Francesco Ghittoni (1855-1928) - Autoritratto

Important antique painting from a 19th-century collection

des Francesco Ghittoni (Rizzolo 1855 - Piacenza 1928)

“Self-portrait” a work from 1880

Painter preserved in Italian museums, Ricci Oddi Gallery, Palazzo Galli and other Italian and foreign museums

Important authentic work - accompanied by a certificate of authenticity in accordance with the law

The work is signed in red, at the bottom of the painting. The signature is not very visible following a recent conservation restoration, but it can be clearly perceived with a magnifying glass. (See photo)

The Piacenza artist – considered a master of 19th-century Italian painting – was rediscovered internationally thanks to the great retrospective dedicated to him at Palazzo Galli by the Bank of Piacenza in 2016, and many works from the Sala Fioruzzi collection were exhibited on that occasion. Ghittoni’s collection refers to the period 1880–1896, regarded by Ferdinando Arisi as the painter’s most freely inspired period. Among the most significant paintings is “The Cradle” from 1882, with a frame in solid gold (in the photo). Tinelli’s collection further strengthens Ghittoni’s presence at PalabancaEventi: two of the artist’s frescoes adorn the staircase, in fact. Not only that. Among the works is the sketch for “Painful Farewell,” Ghittoni’s best-known and most credited work, owned by the Bank.

He began his studies at the Gazzola Institute under Lorenzo Toncini, studying there for about a decade. After 1873, he worked for Giovanni Bernardino Pollinari. In 1881 he presented two genre paintings at the Milan National Exhibition. In 1903 he was appointed curator of the Civic Museum of Piacenza and in 1911 he became an academic at the Gazzola Institute, where among other pupils was Alfredo Soressi. He died in 1928 in Piacenza. In 1939, another pupil of his, Giacomo Bertucci, organized a posthumous exhibition in Piacenza. Today he is considered among the greatest painters of his century, with many publications relating to his painting and life, preserved in Italian and French civic museums. Francesco Ghittoni expresses, with his intense and dramatic figurative painting, the existential torment of a man who always led a troubled life.
The themes of faith, pain, and poverty are his favourites, and his portraits and landscapes reveal a resigned melancholy.
His work, in fact, is internalized and tormented and foreshadows avant‑garde solutions for his time. He died in 1928.

Piece placed in an important contemporaneous frame:
65 x 65 cm
Canvas: 50 x 50 cm
Ideal for collectors and investment – author purchased mainly by national museums and banking institutions

* the work is very similar to a self-portrait already offered by us of Francesco Ghittoni (Rizzolo, 25 March 1855 – Piacenza, 17 August 1928). It originates from the same family and is considered a predecessor to the one we have already proposed; in this depiction, the self-portrait shows Ghittoni at about 25 to 30 years old

Estimate: 1,500.00 / 2,000.00 euro

With certificate of authenticity in accordance with the law

The work is presented in good conservation condition, with signs of time. (See photo)
The frame shown in the photo will be included as a complimentary gift.

Shipping with secure packaging, insured shipment