Nino Caffé - Allegory No. 2

The work can be defined as a genre scene, that is, the depiction of an episode of everyday life that, apparently, lacks any significant element. These types of domestic subjects were long considered minor and only began to spread in Western art starting in the 17th century. Only with the development of 19th-century realism did everyday subjects become considered as important as historical or religious ones. This type of scene is typical of the painter Nino Caffè, who dedicated most of his painting and engraving work to the theme of "Little Priests."

Artist Nino Caffè stands out for his highly objectifying figurative style, delineating the entire scene with an extremely refined and elegant graphic line. Nino Caffè's works dedicated to the theme of young priests have the character and verve of an illustration, for beyond the graphic nature, the composition possesses a lively and ironic quality. In this etching, the artist emphasizes the expressive potential of line even more than in his easel work. He does so with a dynamic and frenetic hatching style, which, in addition to precisely delineating the subjects, imbues them with a jovial vitality. Thus, even in its monochrome surface, Nino Caffè's genre scene maintains its capacity for curious and playful narrative.

Giovannino Caffè, known as Nino, was born in Alfedena in 1908 and died in Pesaro in 1975. He was an Italian painter and engraver. His career began in the 1930s, and by 1938 he was invited to the Venice Biennale. He is known as the "painter of the priests" due to the characteristic subject matter that characterizes much of his work. This iconographic motif likely originated between 1943 and 1944, when Caffè was a teacher at the Academy of Urbino and lived in front of the city's cathedral.

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