Jacopo Scassellati was born in Sassari (Sardinia) in 1989, where he still lives and works today. His family originates from Umbria, a region known for its humanistic and artisanal heritage. From a very early age, he revealed a natural inclination for art. The grandson and son of artists, he followed in the footsteps of his grandfather Franco Scassellati, a master ceramist, spending his childhood in the family workshop where he played with clay and colors, instinctively transforming them into forms that revealed his precocious talent.
In this intimate environment, he learned the handling of pigments and the secrets of ceramics, developing a deep, tactile understanding of material. He attended the D. A. Azuni Classical High School in Sassari, earning his diploma in 2008. During his studies, he participated in a project dedicated to the preservation of the Sardinian language, through which he met the writer Gavino Ledda, author of Padre Padrone. The encounter grew into a lasting friendship that led to the republication of Ledda's novel and other literary works.
In 2012, Scassellati graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts "Mario Sironi" in Sassari, later continuing his studies at the Academy "Pietro Vannucci" in Perugia.
Although painting soon became his primary language, he frequently returned to the medium of clay - the root of his artistic identity - sculpting works that merge Sardinian tradition with classical study.
For him, art is a mental process expressed through the manipulation and transformation of materials, patiently researched and experimented upon with both craftsmanship and emotion. His hands accompany every stage of creation - from the choice of pigments and grounds to the final composition - guided by instinct, memory, and academic discipline.
Scassellati prepares his own natural pigments, like painters of the past, while continuously seeking new experiences and techniques. This ongoing transformation fuels a perpetual artistic metamorphosis that, according to art critic Vittorio Sgarbi, makes him "a young man of talent, working at a rhythm that no longer exists."
His first solo exhibition, Jacopo Giovin Pittore (Jacopo, Young Painter), took place in 2008 in Spello (Umbria). On that occasion, Vittorio Sgarbi praised his precocious mastery and compared his early trajectory to that of the great Renaissance painters.
He was later commissioned to create two altarpieces for the Cathedral of Campi (Teramo), depicting The Annunciation and The Deposition, confirming his ability to translate spiritual and historical subjects into contemporary language.
In 2014, Scassellati presented his first major international exhibition, Frammenti dell'Essere, at Besharat Gallery Barbizon, marking the beginning of his collaboration with the gallery.
The following year, the same collection traveled to Besharat Gallery Atlanta under the title Fragments of Being, introducing his work to the American public. He has since participated in numerous exhibitions in Italy and France, including his acclaimed 2025 solo show Il Miele degli Abissi (The Honey of the Abyss) at the Castello dei Doria in Castelsardo, which was extended due to exceptional public response.
In 2024, Besharat Gallery commissioned Scassellati to create a series of monumental terracotta sculptures. These works, conceived as a dialogue between art, nature, and memory, will be installed and inaugurated in the museum gardens at Barbizon in Spring 2026, representing a new chapter in the artist's creative journey.
Artistic Approach
Jacopo Scassellati's work is founded on a dialogue between the visible and the invisible, between matter and spirit. His paintings combine academic precision with a symbolic and metaphysical dimension. Figures drawn from mythology, history, and philosophy - Daphne, Hypatia, Narcissus, Caligula, Constantine - are reinterpreted as allegories of the human condition, poised between desire and transcendence.
In his paintings, the human form emerges from darkness as though unearthed from memory. Light, carefully layered through translucent glazes, becomes the true protagonist - an emotional substance rather than mere illumination. His terracotta sculptures continue this search for essence: cracked, patinated, and hand-glazed, they bear the marks of time and transformation. Each piece exists somewhere between archaeology and dream, suspended on the threshold of the sacred and the corporeal.
Scassellati belongs to a new generation of Italian figurative artists who revisit the classical canon through a contemporary, existential lens. His style - at once austere, lyrical, and luminous - is distinguished by a profound sense of silence and inner intensity.
Selected Exhibitions
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2026 - Presentation of monumental terracotta sculptures in the Gardens of Besharat Gallery Barbizon (France).
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2025 - Il Miele degli Abissi, Castello dei Doria, Castelsardo (Italy), curated by Stefano Resmini.
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2015 - Fragments of Being, Besharat Gallery, Atlanta (USA).
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2014 - Frammenti dell'Essere, Besharat Gallery, Barbizon (France).
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2014 - Collateral exhibition for the Premio Internazionale di Scultura "Edgardo Mannucci", Arcevia (Italy).
- 2008 – Jacopo Giovin Pittore, Spello (Umbria, Italy).