Luigi Di Giovanni (1856-1938) - Lucia
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€ 110
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Selected by Giulia Santoro
Specialised in 17th century Old Master paintings and drawings with auction house experience.
Estimate € 2,000 - € 2,400
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Lucia, a 1892 pastel portrait by Luigi Di Giovanni (Italy, 19th century), on paper 80 × 63 cm, signed and dated in the upper right, sold with frame and in good condition.
AI-assisted summary
Description from the seller
Luigi Di Giovanni (Palermo, 1836 – 1896)
Lucia
Portrait of a Woman, 1892
Pastel on paper, 80 × 63 cm (with frame)
Signed and dated in the top right
Original Italo-American label on the back
The pastel depicts a young woman from the waist up, captured in an absorbed stance with her gaze directed off-camera. The intense psychological rendering of the face, built through soft color gradations and delicate skin modeling, testifies to Luigi Di Giovanni's full expressive maturity.
Traditional clothing – the brightly red shirt and the yellow headdress – evokes the Sicilian popular world, a central theme in the artist's work, approached with veristic sensitivity and anthropological attention. The neutral, luminous background, devoid of narrative elements, isolates the figure and accentuates its expressive power.
Completed in 1892 for an important exhibition (see label on the back), the work sits among the most successful examples of Di Giovanni's pastel portraiture, a technique in which the artist excels for immediacy, chromatic freshness, and emotional intensity. The piece represents a significant document of late nineteenth-century Sicilian painting and is attributable to the author's mature phase, of which known works are preserved in Sicilian museums and public collections, including the Galleria d’Arte Moderna in Palermo.
The frame is a bit chipped, as shown in the photo.
Luigi Di Giovanni (Palermo, 1836 – 1896)
Lucia
Portrait of a Woman, 1892
Pastel on paper, 80 × 63 cm (with frame)
Signed and dated in the top right
Original Italo-American label on the back
The pastel depicts a young woman from the waist up, captured in an absorbed stance with her gaze directed off-camera. The intense psychological rendering of the face, built through soft color gradations and delicate skin modeling, testifies to Luigi Di Giovanni's full expressive maturity.
Traditional clothing – the brightly red shirt and the yellow headdress – evokes the Sicilian popular world, a central theme in the artist's work, approached with veristic sensitivity and anthropological attention. The neutral, luminous background, devoid of narrative elements, isolates the figure and accentuates its expressive power.
Completed in 1892 for an important exhibition (see label on the back), the work sits among the most successful examples of Di Giovanni's pastel portraiture, a technique in which the artist excels for immediacy, chromatic freshness, and emotional intensity. The piece represents a significant document of late nineteenth-century Sicilian painting and is attributable to the author's mature phase, of which known works are preserved in Sicilian museums and public collections, including the Galleria d’Arte Moderna in Palermo.
The frame is a bit chipped, as shown in the photo.
Details
Artist
Luigi Di Giovanni (1856-1938)
Sold with frame
Yes
Title of artwork
Lucia
Technique
Pastel
Signature
Signed
Country of Origin
Italy
Year
1892
Condition
Good condition
Height
80 cm
Width
63 cm
Depiction/Theme
Portrait
Period
19th century
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