One of the artists featured in our inaugural exhibition at Cathays Gallery & Framing is Maximillion Baccanello, a Shropshire-based fine artist and portrait painter.

His work spans oil painting, charcoal and pastel, with subjects ranging from birds and still life to larger figurative pieces.

Baccanello trained at Charles Cecil Studios in Florence between 2008 and 2011. Since then, he has worked on portrait commissions while continuing to develop his own still life and figurative work.

Working directly from his subjects plays an important part in Baccanello’s practice. Whether he is painting a bird, a piece of fruit or a larger portrait, he pays close attention to light, colour, texture and character.

As a result, even his smaller works feel carefully observed rather than simply decorative.

We currently have a selection of original works by Maximillion Baccanello at our Caerphilly gallery. The collection includes paintings from his Symphony of Wings and fruit series, as well as two of his larger works, Ornithomancy and The Boatman.

Baccanello’s Symphony of Wings is a series of small bird paintings based on his direct study of taxidermy specimens.

Each painting keeps the composition simple. Because of this, your attention goes straight to the bird itself, its colour, markings and plumage.

We currently have several works from the series in the gallery. Some feature vivid, almost jewel-like colours, while others are much softer and more muted.

Seen together, the differences between the birds become just as interesting as the details within each individual painting.

We’ve only included a small selection here. However, you can see more of Symphony of Wings in person at our Caerphilly gallery.

Alongside the bird paintings, we have a smaller group of Baccanello’s fruit studies.

For these works, Baccanello paints in oil directly onto copper. He focuses on individual pieces of fruit against simple backgrounds, allowing colour, form and shadow to do most of the work.

Importantly, he leaves areas of the copper visible around the subject. As the light changes, the surface takes on a different quality and becomes part of the painting itself.

There is also an interesting contrast in the way he handles the paint. He observes the fruit closely, while keeping some of the surrounding areas much looser.

The subject matter may be familiar, but the copper gives these still life paintings a character of their own.

They are especially worth seeing in person, as the relationship between the paint and the exposed metal is much easier to appreciate up close.

Baccanello’s larger figurative works take his practice in a different direction.

In Ornithomancy, he brings together the human figure, the natural world and symbolism.

Baccanello created the work in charcoal and pastel. It shows a female prophet watching a blue-and-gold macaw in flight. While the figure appears almost entirely in black and white, the macaw stands out in vivid colour.

The title refers to ornithomancy, the ancient practice of interpreting the movement and behaviour of birds as signs or omens.

That idea sits at the centre of the piece. The prophet looks towards the bird for a message, while its colour immediately separates it from the rest of the composition.

Because of this contrast, the macaw becomes the clear focus of the work and helps explain the importance of colour within the piece.

Ornithomancy won the Young Artist Award at The Pastel Society Exhibition at Mall Galleries, London.

We’ve shown only a selection of the Maximillion Baccanello works available to view at Cathays Gallery & Framing.

Of course, photographs only tell part of the story. The scale of Ornithomancy, the surface of the copper paintings and the colour in the bird studies all feel very different when you stand in front of the original works.

So, whether you’ve only just discovered Baccanello’s work or one of the pieces here has already caught your attention, you’re very welcome to visit our Caerphilly art gallery and explore the collection in person.