Maria Teresa of Savoy

Rather than to the strand of socially committed Verism, Vela's art should be linked on the one hand to the Bartolini tradition, on the other to the example of Marochetti. The meticulous realism of this praying figure (and of the Maria Adelaide that accompanies it) does not impair the unity of planes and outlines, and the painterliness of the surfaces is still subordinate to the calm and gradual unfolding of light.