Adolphe Monticelli
Portrait of the Artist's Mother
Lot Closed
June 10, 02:50 PM GMT
Estimate
5,000 - 7,000 EUR
We may charge or debit your saved payment method subject to the terms set out in our Conditions of Business for Buyers.
Read more.Lot Details
Description
Adolphe Monticelli
Marseille 1824 - 1886
Portrait of the Artist's Mother
Pastel on paper
Signed lower left A. Monticelli
55,4 x 45,5 cm ; 21¾ by 17⅞ in.
We are grateful to Monsieur Marc Stammegna, who confirmed the authentication of this painting, based on first-hand inspection.
Born in 1824 in Marseille, Monticelli studied at the city’s École des Beaux-arts before moving to Paris, where he made copies from old masters. Admired by his contemporaries and later a source of inspiration for the Fauves, Monticelli usually worked in impasto, giving his works a texture that makes them particularly easy to identify.
Here he has painted a pastel portrait of his mother, sitting on a sofa. The technique and the subject – both rare in the artist’s oeuvre – as well as the careful drawing, suggest that this is a work of his youth. The Musée d’Orsay has a Portrait of a woman in black in oil on canvas, dated 1856, whose restrained drawing is close to the present painting (inv. MNR 194).