(b Naples, 26 Nov 1841; d Naples, 23 Aug 1915). Italian painter and illustrator. His father was the literary scholar and art critic Carlo Tito Dalbono (1817-80). Around 1850 he was taught by the engraver Augusto Marchetti (1818-71) in Rome. He then enrolled at the Accademia in Naples, where his teachers were Giuseppe Mancinelli (1813-75) and Domenico Morelli; he also studied with Nicola Palizzi. He contributed a history painting and a Study of a Mill (untraced; see Dalbono, p. 39) to the last Bourbon exhibition in Naples in 1859. His interests in these years were divided between historical themes, landscapes and folklore subjects. He produced the Excommunication of King Manfredi (untraced, see Giordano) for a historical painting competition in 1866 and exhibited it in Naples (1868) and Parma (1870). This work clearly follows in the tradition of Saverio Altamura (1826-97) and Bernardo Celentano in that it is painted from a specially lit modello, the details of costume have been carefully researched and the architectural background showing the castle of Barletta is painted from photographs. Dalbono's On the Terrace (Rome, G.N.A. Mod.) takes a different approach, portraying a middle-class family in the open air with a view of the city in the background. Here more attention is paid to the effect of daytime lighting, while the sketchy painting style suggests a link with the contemporary experiments of the Tuscan MACCHIAIOLI and the painters of the SCUOLA DI RESINA.
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