Alfonso Grassi (1918-2002) - Volto di Vecchio

Alfonso Grassi (Solofra, June 3, 1918 – Salerno, February 7, 2002)
Oil on canvas with the artist's pencil signature at the bottom right.
External frame dimensions: 60.5 x 68.5 x h 8 cm
Canvas size: 40 x 40
The 1978 Certificate of Guarantee, included with the sale, is from Galleria d’Arte Balsamo Bruno - Fiuggi -.
On the back of the canvas is the inscription “da me dipinto Alfonso Grassi”
The weight of the painting is approximately 5 kg in total.

The artwork will be well packed with bubble wrap on all sides and reinforced cardboard.
Shipping within Italy is by insured standard parcel.
For European shipments, standard International Delivery parcel is provided.
For non-European shipments, insured FedEx Express is arranged.
CUSTOMS DUTIES ARE EXCLUDED, THEREFORE THE BUYER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THEM.

Alfonso Grassi was one of the most important Italian figurative painters and portraitists of the 20th century. He inseparably linked his art to classical tradition and realism, earning a solid reputation both in Italy and abroad.

From a very young age, he showed extraordinary drawing talent: it is told that at only nine years old he painted his first canvas using cooking oil to mix the pigments.
He enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts of Naples, where he graduated in 1940. During his academic years he had the fortune to study under giants of Neapolitan painting and sculpture of the time, including Vincenzo Gemito, Vincenzo Caprile, Vincenzo Irolli and Emilio Notte.
Shortly after graduation he was called to arms during World War II. He fought on the French front, in Albania and in Greece, where he was wounded in an arm.
Returning to painting, he became the favorite pupil of Giorgio de Chirico and formed deep friendships with other great masters of realism and “cultured painting” such as Pietro Annigoni and Gregorio Sciltian. In 1982 he received an important international recognition, winning the European painting prize “Lorenzo the Magnificent”.
Grassi was distinguished by a solid technique and a masterful use of color and chiaroscuro. He is remembered for being one of the last painters to often paint by candlelight in his studio, studying in depth Caravaggio’s chromatic and luminous lesson and that of Francesco Guarini.
His preferred subjects included:
• The “old ones”: Extraordinary portraits of elderly people, peasants, monks or pipe smokers, characterized by faces marked by time that expressed deep psychological and existential dignity.
• Rural scenes and landscapes: glimpses of daily life in southern Italy, still lifes, animals and markets.

Thanks to his unique technical skill, Grassi became the official portraitist of some of the most important historical, political and religious figures of the 20th century, including:
• Pope John Paul II
• Sandro Pertini (then President of the Republic)
• Giulio Andreotti
• Giorgio de Chirico

Alfonso Grassi passed away in Salerno in 2002. Today his works are exhibited in important museums—including the Uffizi Gallery in Florence (which houses a self-portrait of his) and the Provincial Pinacotheca of Avellino—and continue to be traded at major art auctions. To preserve his memory, his daughter Raffaella founded the Alfonso Grassi International Art Academy in Salerno.