A c.1900 Italian Tempera on Canvas Study of An Elderly Gentleman

Origin: Italian
Period: Early 20thC
Provenance: Alessandro Tognazzi Collection, Bracciano
Date: c.1900
Height: 34”
Width: 27”
Depth: 1”

The framed and glazed tempera on canvas work sensitively depicting an elderly semi-nude gentleman posed seated and being half draped, to an olive green ground, possibly by the hand of Vincenzo Gemito, the work apparently unsigned, and being framed and glazed and surviving from turn of the century Italy.

There are areas of wear as photographed, and it has obviously been folded at some stage. The frame is good quality and contemporary.

Vincenzo Gemito was an Italian sculptor and artist. Although he worked in various studios of well-known artists in his native Naples, Rome and Paris, he is considered to have largely been self-taught, the reason he produced such distinctive works for that time, replacing sentiment with outstanding realism. Gemito cultivated a kind of rugged realism in the interpretations of his subjects, conveyed by contrasting rough and smooth surfaces.

A painting that exudes a kind of calm and a respect for the elderly…to his life he was dedicated, now that should be celebrated.