Italian school (XX) - Estasi

A portrait of strong emotional and expressive intensity: the face is captured in an ascending movement, the gaze lifted upward and the lips slightly parted in an expression suspended between abandon and rapture. The dark background, almost monochrome, isolates the figure and enhances the luminosity of the skin, while the wavy hair, rendered with soft golden and coppery strokes, frames the face and gives dynamism to the composition. The light drapery surrounding the shoulders, rendered with a skillful play of folds and glazes, recalls the tradition of the classical portrait, while the strongly chiaroscuric rendering of the neck and décolleté gives sculptural volume to the figure, in a balance between sensuality and pictorial classicism. The work is signed at the bottom left "Susy B."