Adolfo de Carolis (also, Karolis) studied at the Academy of Fine Art in Bologna, from which he graduated in 1892. He worked as a painter (especially murals), interior designer, decorator, xylographer (wood engraver), illustrator and photographer. In 1892 he was awarded a scholarship to attend courses in decorative painting at the "Museo Artistico Industriale" in Rome, where he became a follower of the British Pre-Raphaelite movement and one of the most popular representiatives of the Art Nouveau (Liberty) style in Italy.
He created murals for the Villa Brancadoro in San Benedetto del Tronto, the ballroom of the Palazzo della Provincia in Ascoli Piceno, the Consiglio Provinciale in Arezzo, and the great hall of the Palazzo del Podestà in Bologna. He designed the Baptismal Font at the Cathedral of Ajaccio (Corsica) and supervised the restoration of the Borgia apartments in the Vatican. He is also known for his stained glass and mosaics at the Villa Puccini in Torre del Lago.
He is probably most known, today, for his illustrations of books by Giosue' Carducci, Gabriele D'Annunzio and Giovanni Pascoli. In his later years, he also designed all kinds of ephemera such as bookplates, woodcuts, theatrical sets, posters, calendars, postcards, advertisements, commercial labels, and certificates.
In 1901, he was granted a chaired position at the Accademia delle Belle Arti in Florence. In 1909 he was appointed Knight of the Order of tthe Crown of Italy. In 1915-17, he taught at the Accademia delle Belle Arti of Brera and in 1922 he accepted a teaching post at the Accademia delle Belle Arti in Rome.
He died prematurely in Rome at the age of 54, on the 7th of February 1928.
The Adolfo De Carolis rooms at the ‘Polo Museale di San Francesco’ Museum in Montefiore displays five hundred of his finest works of art.
Selected References:
A.M. Comanducci. Dizionario illustrato dei pittori, disegnatori, e incisori italiani moderni e contemporanei. Vol. 2. Milano: Leonilde M. Patuzzi, 1962. 558-59.
Luigi Servolini, Dizionario illustrato degli incisori italiani moderni e contemporanei. Milan: G. Görlich, 1995. 251-54.
De Carolis, Adolfo