Francesco Ghittoni (1855-1928) - Autoritratto

Important antique painting from a 19th-century collection.

di Francesco Ghittoni (Rizzolo 1855 – Piacenza 1928)

Self-portrait, a work from the year 1880.

Paintings preserved in Italian museums, Galleria Ricci Oddi, Palazzo Galli, and other Italian and international museums.

Important authentic artwork - accompanied by a certificate of authenticity in accordance with the law.

The work is signed in red at the bottom of the painting. The signature is not very visible due to a recent conservation restoration, but it can be clearly seen with a lens. (See photo)

The Piacenza artist — considered a master of 19th-century Italian painting — was rediscovered internationally thanks to the major exhibition dedicated to him at Palazzo Galli by Banca di Piacenza in 2016, during which many works from Sala Fioruzzi's collection were displayed. Ghittoni's collection pertains to works created between 1880 and 1896, which Ferdinando Arisi considers the period of the artist's most free inspiration. Among the most significant paintings is 'La culla' from 1882, with a gilt frame (pictured). The Tinelli collection further strengthens Ghittoni's presence at PalabancaEventi: indeed, two frescoes on the staircase are signed by the artist. Not only that. The collection also includes the maquette of 'Doloroso addio,' 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 presented two genre paintings at 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 students was Alfredo Soressi. He died in 1928 in Piacenza. In 1939, another of his students, Giacomo Bertucci, organized a posthumous exhibition in Piacenza. Today, he is considered one of the greatest painters of his century, with numerous publications about his painting and life, and his works are preserved in Italian and French civic museums. Francesco Ghittoni expressed through his intense and dramatic figurative painting the existential torment of a man who always led a troubled life.
Themes of faith, pain, and poverty are his favorites, and his portraits and landscapes reveal a resigned melancholy.
His work is indeed internalized and tormented, and it foreshadows avant-garde solutions for his time. He died in 1928.

Work placed within an important contemporary frame.
65 x 65 cm

Screen: 50 x 50 cm

Ideal for collecting and investment — the author is mainly purchased by national museums and banking institutions.

The work is very similar to a self-portrait previously proposed by us by Francesco Ghittoni (Rizzolo, March 25, 1855 – Piacenza, August 17, 1928). It comes from the same family and is considered to precede the one we have already proposed; in this depiction, the self-portrait shows Ghittoni at an age between 25 and 30 years.

With certificate of authenticity in accordance with the law

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

Shipping with safety packaging, insured shipping