Biography

Italian painter. From 1850, he was studying in the Fine Arts Academy in Florence with Giuseppe Bezzuoli and Enrico Pollestrini (1817-1876). In 1858 he went to work in the studio of Antonio Ciseri. He was among his last students, and, according to the art critics, among his best.

Living and working in Florence, he used to join his artists friends at the Caffè Michelangiolo, taking part in their lively discussions. Nevertheless, he was never influenced by the Macchiaoli, an artistic movement inspired by the French Impressionism. He always remained faithful to his master Antonio Ciseri's academic style, as shown in his numerous portraits such as Rossini (1866), Victor Emmanuel II de Savoie (1870), his Self-Portrait (1899-1901, now in the Uffizi), and Verdi (1901).

In April 1863 King Victor Emmanuel II commissioned a history painting, Conradin of Swabia, from him. Sarri also painted religious scenes. However, he is best known for a series of paintings depicting daily life in ancient Pompeii, completed between 1875 and 1887 and which brought him much fame.