Filippo Carcano

Possibly Francesco Pagnoni (by 1872)

Marguerite de Lays-Chaudien, Paris (circa 1920; married into the Hoyos family); thence by descent

Melanie Hoyos-Bismark (married to Count Gottfried von Bismark), Schloss Schwerberg (until 1949); thence by descent

Sale: Christie’s, London, 22 May 1981, lot 129 (as Italian School, late 19^th Century)

Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Possibly, Accademia di Brera, 1871, no. 218 (as Il passatempo)

Possibly, Accademia di Brera, 1872, no. 602 (as un Passatempo, lent by Francesco Pagnoni)

London, Trafalgar Galleries, Trafalgar Galleries at the Royal Academy III., 1983, no. 40, illustrated in the exhibition catalogue

Turin, Palazzo Antoniella, Lo specchio e il doppio, 1987, illustrated in the exhibition catalogue (as Il passatempo)

Perugia, Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, Bolle di Sapone, Forme dell’utopia tra vanitas, arte e scienza, 2019, no. 25, illustrated in the exhibition catalogue (as Il Passatempo (Una donna leggera))

Carcano exhibited more than one work with this title at the Brera in Milan between 1867 and 1872, the present work no doubt being one of them. The title is a play on words reflecting the composition, for while the girl is indeed engaged in the pastime of blowing bubbles, the composition also signifies the passing of time and in that sense can be read as a vanitas. The bubble, the empty cup, and empty shell all speak of the transience of life.

Carcano was extremely innovative and pursued originality with his technique. In 1862, his painting The Flower Girl, reveals an early experimentation with the division of colour and effects of light. Essentially, rather than creating optical effect by using the juxtaposition of small areas of unmixed paint, the surface of some of Carcano’s works on closer inspection is distinctly broken up and in places the bare, lightly painted canvas can be seen. In A Pastime (The Soap Bubble) this is especially evident in the tapestry design effect of the wall covering. Carcano also pushed boundaries by breaking with the Academy in 1863 - much to the shock of Francesco Hayez and the supervisors. A decade later he conceded to exhibit there, however he was always questioning the establishment and traditional art making and was a major exponent en plein air. He methods undoubtedly set the scene for the later Italian divisionists such as Giovanni Segantini (1858-1899), Gaetano Previati (1852-1920) and Angelo Morbelli (1853-1919).

Paintings by Carcano are in various museum and prestigious private collections, including the Fondazione Cariplo, Pinacoteca di Brera and Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci in Milan, Galleria Nazionale D'Arte Moderna in Rome and Musée d'Orsay in Paris. A painting by Carcano, The Escort, was included in the William Graham Collection of works of the Pre-Raphaelites, with which this also presents an affinity, both in the wistful pose and the attention to detail.