Alberto Morrocco, R.S.A., R.S.W.

The artist's estate and thence by descent

The canvas is original. The canvas is very slightly undulated in the lower left corner. On very close inspection there is some evidence of extremely minor frame abrasion at the extreme left edge. Otherwise in good condition, clean and ready to hang. Ultraviolet light reveals some extremely minor cosmetic spots of retouching towards the upper edge in a couple of places and a couple of spots towards the centre of the left and right edges. Held in a simple painted wooden frame in fair condition.
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Alberto Morrocco was born in Aberdeen to Italian parents. His father had settled in Britain when he was twenty-one and his mother was brought to Scotland with her family from Southern Italy when she was three years old. The correct family surname incidentally is 'Marrocco'. Alberto's father, Domenicantonio Morrocco owned an ice-creamery in Aberdeen above which the family lived. When he first came to Aberdeen he asked the sign-writer to put his name above the shop, but somehow the name was lost in translation and the erroneous 'Morrocco' was emblazoned on the shop front but his father never changed it.

Alberto was accepted to Gray's School of Art in 1932 at the unusually young age of fourteen. He studied there for six years under the tutelage of James Cowie and Robert Sivell, the later having a dramatic influence on Alberto's career. It was Sivell who sparked his interest in the Italian Renaissance and this was to have a lasting impression on Alberto.

For many years he was the best-known and admired portrait painter in Scotland and his sitters included the HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Equally is he known for his still lifes, landscapes and interiors scenes which all represent his love of colour and simplicity of composition. During his career Morrocco gave over thirty one man exhibitions both in London and all over Scotland. In recognition of his many achievements as an artist he was awarded an OBE in 1993. Still Life with a Red Coffee Pot offers a stunning example of Morrocco's purity and clarity of subject matter executed with exceptional boldness of colour and composition.