Italian school (XX) - Figura femminile con arpa

Oil painting on copper plate – Female figure with harp

Elegant oil painting on a copper plate, depicting a young female figure seated in a rocky and shaded landscape, occupied with playing a small string instrument resembling a harp or lyre. The protagonist is portrayed with the bust exposed and wrapped in a broad light drapery, while a long skirt in ochre and golden tones, richly animated by the brushstrokes, dominates the central part of the composition.

The pose of the figure, the idealized atmosphere, and the presence of the musical instrument suggest a subject of allegorical and mythological character, probably related to Music, Poetry, or the Muses. The young woman is captured in an elegant and poised pose, with her face slightly inclined toward the observer. The long brown hair, loose over the shoulders, contributes to the construction of a feminine image in line with Romantic and academic tastes.

Particularly interesting is the painterly rendering of the draperies: the white bodice and the golden skirt are built up through rapid, overlapping brushstrokes, capable of suggesting the texture of the fabric and the numerous changes of light. The contrast between the warm colors of the dress and the dark background, characterized by brownish, greenish, and bluish tones, immediately concentrates attention on the figure.

The copper plate constitutes a support particularly suitable for this genre, allowing a smooth and compact surface and favoring the precision of details and the brilliance of the chromatic matter. The choice of copper is historically associated mainly with the tradition of Flemish and Italian painting, but it remained in use also among European artists and copyists in later centuries, particularly for small-sized, collectible works.

The work presents a figurative language linked to the European Academic and Romantic tradition of the nineteenth century, with a sensibility still tied to the idealized representation of the female figure and subjects inspired by the classical world. The composition recalls that taste for allegorical figures, the Muses, and mythological characters widely diffused in European painting between the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The frame is not for sale
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