Francesco Ghittoni (1855-1928) - Coppia di ritratti

Important pair of 19th-century paintings from a private collection

by Francesco Ghittoni (Rizzolo 1855 - Piacenza 1928)

"Pair of portraits"
Oil on cardboard, about 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 Piacenza-born artist - considered a master of 19th-century Italian painting - was internationally re-discovered thanks to the major exhibition dedicated to him at Palazzo Galli by Banca di Piacenza in 2016, and many works from the Sala Fioruzzi collection were shown on that occasion. Ghittoni’s collection refers to the production years 1880 to 1896, deemed by Ferdinando Arisi as the period of his freer inspiration. Among the most significant paintings, "The Cradle" of 1882, with a frame in gold leaf (in the photo).
The Tinelli collection reinforces Ghittoni’s presence at PalabancaEventi: two frescoes on the staircase signed by the artist. Not only that. Among the works is the study sketch for "Dolorous farewell", Ghittoni’s most famous and acclaimed work, owned by the Bank.

He began his studies at the Gazzola Institute under Lorenzo Toncini, where he studied for about a decade. After 1873, he worked for Giovanni Bernardino Pollinari. In 1881 he submitted two genre paintings to the National Exhibition in Milan. 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 his pupils was Alfredo Soressi, He died in 1928 in Piacenza. In 1939, another of his pupils, 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 his life, preserved in Italian civic and French museums. Francesco Ghittoni expresses with his intense, dramatic figurative painting the existential torment of a man who always lived a troubled life.
The themes of faith, pain, and poverty are his favorites, and his portraits and landscapes reveal a resigned melancholy.
His work is deeply interiorized and tormented and foreshadows avant-garde solutions for his time. He died in 1928.

Works placed in an important contemporary frame:

Measurements: 59 x 63 cm compressed measurement in the frame
Paintings: 47 x 29 cm each

Ideal for collecting and investment - author acquired mainly by national museums and banking institutions

With a certificate of authenticity in compliance with the law

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

Shipping with secure packaging, insured shipment