Rao works highlighted at museum

Skylands Museum of Art has a new fine art exhibition, “Spotlight on the Artist: Massimo Rao,” an Italian artist known for his classic yet somewhat mysterious painting style.

It will be on view through October at 15 Route 15, Lafayette.

The exhibit highlights eight Rao works from the permanent collection, including oil and tempera paintings, lithographs and drawings

Entrance to the exhibit is included with museum admission, a suggested donation of $10 per person.

Rao’s paintings, lithographs and drawings combined his original and contemporary vision with influences from classic and Renaissance styles.

Recurring themes seen in his paintings include a woman, transformed into a Greek goddess, and a man, dressed as an angel, sometimes hiding behind a moon.

Rao was called “the painter of the moon” because he frequently used the image with his subjects set in a surreal, dream-like dimension.

He was known for using ancient techniques for preparing and applying colors on canvas and combining the use of tempera and oil paints in a single work.

Rao was born in the town of San Salvatore Telesino, not far from Naples, Italy, in 1950. He studied art history in Benevento and architecture at the University of Naples.

He had exhibitions in Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, the Netherlands and the United States before he died in 1996 at the age of 46.

His hometown opened a museum dedicated to him with 65 works in 2012.