Venanzio Zolla (1880-1961) - Donna con bambina

# Family Intimacy and Figure Painting: Donna con bambina by Venanzio Zolla

**Venanzio Zolla (Colchester, 1880 – Turin, 1961)**
*Donna con bambina*
**Oil on cardboard, cm 41 × 52**
**Signed at bottom left**
**With frame**
**Estimate: € 200 – 300**

## Venanzio Zolla and Figure Painting

Venanzio Zolla, born in Colchester in 1880 and died in Turin in 1961, is an artist of particular interest within Italian painting between the late 19th century and the early 20th century.

Born in England to a family of Italian origins, Zolla trained artistically in Turin, graduating from the **Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti** and attending Vincenzo Grosso's teaching. His activity developed mainly among portraits, landscapes, and still lifes, with a figurative language influenced by impressionist sensibility. A biographical testimony dedicated to the Zolla family recalls how Venanzio was active in early 20th‑century Turin and painted **portraits, landscapes and still lifes**, not adhering to the avant‑gardes of the time.

His painting thus remains anchored to the figurative tradition, but characterized by a certain freedom in brushwork and a particular attention to the rendering of light and atmosphere.

## *Donna con bambina*: a Subject of Everyday Intimacy

The work *Donna con bambina* fits into the vein of **figure painting** developed by Zolla.

The presence of a woman together with a girl introduces an intimate and family dimension. We are not necessarily facing an official portrait, but rather a scene in which the relationship between the two figures constitutes the main narrative element.

The theme of motherhood and childhood belongs to a very broad European painting tradition between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In this type of compositions the artist's interest may focus not only on the features of the characters but above all on the **affectionate and spatial relationship between the figures**.

The title itself, *Donna con bambina*, maintains a deliberately descriptive formulation: the identity of the characters is not specified and attention remains on the depicted situation and its painterly quality.

## Technical and Stylistic Analysis

The work is executed in **oil on cardboard**, a support that recurs in Zolla's production and lends itself particularly well to medium-small format painting.

The dimensions of **41 × 52 cm** allow the artist to develop the scene with a greater presence compared to small figure studies, leaving enough space to build the relationship between the characters and the surrounding environment.

Cardboard also allows for a direct and immediate paint application. Oil technique offers the possibility to modulate tonal transitions and to construct the figures through a succession of brushstrokes and color variations.

Zolla's documented production includes several paintings on cardboard or cardboard stock. For example, Galleria Recta records an *Interno con pianoforte* realized in **oil on cardboard**, 15 × 22 cm.

## The Female Figure in Zolla's Production

The subject of the woman constitutes a recurring element in the artist's production.

A particularly significant comparison is represented by the *Ritratto femminile* kept in Cambi auction catalogs: an **oil on panel of 39 × 29 cm, signed at bottom left**, offered with an estimate of €500–600.

Also the antique market documents several Zolla compositions dedicated to the female figure, including *Mezzobusto femminile*, *Nuda*, *Figura seduta* and other scenes with characters. This set of testimonies allows considering the human figure not as a marginal episode, but as a significant component of his repertoire.

In the present painting, the contemporary presence of **a woman and a girl** further expands the theme, introducing in the composition a relationship between two generations.

## The Intimate Component

One of the most interesting aspects of the work is precisely its **intimate and everyday** dimension.

Figure painting in the early decades of the twentieth century often moved away from official portraiture to focus on simpler moments of private life: mothers with children, seated women, figures indoors, or people captured in spontaneous poses.

*Donna con bambina* can be placed in this context, where the image's value derives as much from the subject as from the artist's ability to create a visual relationship between the figures.

The 41 × 52 cm format contributes to strengthening this dimension: large enough to develop the scene, yet far from the monumental scales of grand exhibition painting.

## The Signature and Identification

The **signature at bottom left** constitutes an important identifying element of the work.

Its position is corroborated in other works attributed to Venanzio Zolla on the market. The aforementioned *Ritratto femminile* of Cambi, for example, features the signature precisely at the bottom left.

The presence of the signature, together with the oil on cardboard technique and the figurative character of the composition, thus helps place the painting within the artist's known repertoire.

## Collectors' Value and Conclusions

The estimate of **€200 – 300** makes the work particularly accessible within the market for Venanzio Zolla, even though it is a **41 × 52 cm** format, i.e., larger than many small studies and documented paintings on cardboard.

A comparison with Cambi's *Ritratto femminile* of 39 × 29 cm, oil on panel and signed at bottom left, estimated at **€500–600**, testifies to market interest in the artist's figurative production.

*Donna con bambina* also presents a particularly pleasing thematic feature: the presence of two figures allows reading the painting not only as a study of painterly character but also as a **depiction of a human and family relationship**.

Oil on cardboard, the signature at bottom left, the well‑present format, and the frame complete a work suitable both for a collection dedicated to Piedmontese painting between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and for period or traditional‑taste interior decoration.

Overall, *Donna con bambina* represents an interesting testimony of Venanzio Zolla's figurative production: **an image of intimate character in which the female and infant figures become an opportunity to explore everyday life, relationship, and the painterly sensibility of the artist**.