Arturo Faldi (1856 - 1911) Young man in profile Oil... Lot 291

Arturo Faldi (1856 - 1911) Young man in profile Oil on compressed cardboard 26.4 x 18 cm Signature: "A. Faldi" on recto Other inscriptions: on verso, early twentieth-century annotation, possibly related to the subject of the work; annotation for the transfer of the work dated "05/07/2016" by "Marco Peritore" Distinctive elements: five inventory labels Provenance: Peritore Collection, Catania Conservation status. Support: 90% (slight damage to the margins, slipping of the work relative to the light of the frame) Conservation status. Surface: 90% The Florentine Faldi studied at the city's Academy of Fine Arts, where he had Giovanni Muzzioli and Michele Gordigiani as masters. Around the age of 25, by then well trained in painting historical and mythological subjects, which then occupied a large part of his teaching, he approached the Macchiaioli. Encouraged by the success of one of his works, "Paysanne d'Italie," exhibited at the Paris Salon, he concentrated on realistic subjects, of everyday life, and in particular on the relationship between peasant activity and nature. Two of his paintings had the honor of being purchased by King Umberto I: "Honeymoon," donated by the Crown to the Galleria civica d'arte moderna e contemporanea in Turin, and "God Accompanies Them," donated to the Galleria nazionale d'arte moderna e contemporanea in Rome and now in the studio of the First President of the Court of Cassation. By now an acclaimed painter, much sought after by Tuscan elites, Faldi became a professor and later president of the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. Testifying to this ability to combine elegance and realism is the portrait on panel in the auction, a very young and beautiful girl in profile, whose slight embarrassment is also readable, projected against her companion.