Posted 4 months ago
Hilltop
(21 items)
This is my best find ever found this in the attic at a ladies house this morning she said anything I want take I see this painting in the back of the attic it looks like a cardinal Never seen nothing like this painting , the paint is cracking I believe it's signed but the signature could be hidden under the frame and I don't wanna remove it but I'm just thrilled that I found this
Hilltop, Interesting.
The person playing the piano looks very small.
In a lot of old artwork, a child did tend to be drawn/painted as a miniature adult.
So is this perhaps supposed to be a depiction of child prodigy Mozart performing for a high-ranking member of the clergy?
Awesome comments
Thank for the info very helpful
Oh, and this plays into another of my obsessions: the pianist is seated on what looks to me like a chair in the style of Louis XVI furniture (the giltwood frame with fluted legs):
https://www.carrocel.com/recognizing-and-differentiating-the-features-of-louis-style-furniture/
You're welcome. :-)
Good eye thanks
Nice find..lot of damage though. Possibly Cleto Luzzi? Looks like his style of works. Should have it authenticated by auction house. If it it his works, even with the damage it may have some value?
https://www.artnet.com/artists/cleto-luzzi/
Thanks your info helpful
The people fascinate me: the mother bending closer as if following along with the notes on the page, looks anxious. The father (?), standing back looks confident.
The woman turning the pages of the music book, also looking confident and patient could be the music teacher…she knows her young pupil will do well in his recital.
I’m wondering why the lady in green is leaning so noticeably toward the clergyman….hmmm….some subtle flirtation perhaps?
The young man with his hand on his cane is rather close to the young maiden’s shoulder so she seems to be giving that offensive hand a “side eye”. He would probably get a little jolt of excitement if he could only “accidentally” brush his hand across her bare shoulder. She knows what he’s up to.
I hope more info turns up about the painting. Be sure to update your post if you find more information.
Watchsearcher, Wow, you really looked at this painting. };-)
I took another look at it: there certainly is some interesting body language.
Has the lady leaning towards the clergyman just made a verbal observation to the cleric, or is she about to do so? Like the lady on her other side, she has a fan, but hers is open. Is it open because she's warm, or for use as an observation shield?
The lady behind the one with the open fan seems to be leaning her forearm familiarly on the latter.
The gentleman with the cane also wields a lorgnette, presumably the better with which to see the pianist, but then there is his cane hand which is indeed quite the shoulder of the side-eye-giving lady. Hmmm.
There's another dude with a lorgnette behind the cleric. What is he looking at?
What is the red-robed clergyman fingering with his left hand?
On and on. };-)
BTW, here is a giltwood piano described as being "Louis XVI style" (not of 18th century vintage, but rather 1900):
https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/a-louis-xvi-style-carved-and-painted-giltwood-ste-120-c-xyza7mvq8z
It actually would be a better match style-wise for the pianist's chair than the piano in the painting, which seems to be a product of an earlier era, but then we might be looking at a harpsichord instead of a piano.
Ah well.
Thanks for all comments Knowledge is the key
Hilltop, Yup, knowledge is the key, and I hope that you'll get some expert assistance with this painting. :-)
I am definitely not an expert; however, I see what I think is a variety of furniture styles in this painting.
FYI, here is another webpage that compares the furniture styles of the Louis XIV, XV, and XVI eras, although they show them in reverse chronological order, i.e, XVI, XV, and XIV:
http://2015summerdesignclass.weebly.com/louis-xiv---xvi.html
As I already wrote in an earlier comment, I think the pianist's chair is in the style of Louis XVI.
The clergyman's chair seems more like Louix XIV. I can't be sure, because the underside of the chair is hidden, but the overall look of the chair is rather throne-like.
The elaborate piano seems like it could be Louis XV.
In looking at the various paintings of Cleto Luzzi at that website dave2no1 linked earlier, I see Louis XV style chairs exclusively (curved legs).
Of course, that website doesn't necessarily have a comprehensive collection of Luzzi's works.
In looking around, I thought I'd found a Luzzi painting with some Louis XVI furniture on Pinterest; however, a Google Lens search revealed it to be the work of one Arturo Ricci:
(A tinyurl dot com link for "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arturo_Ricci_008_%2827603065209%29.jpg," because CW S&T software tends to throw up on links with a lot of special characters):
http://tinyurl.com/4vjuvae6
Try as I might, I haven't been able to uncover any genuine Louis XV era pianofortes, but here is a gorgeous one done in that style circa 1840 at the Met:
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/503046
So, I just dunno.
Kera There is 9ne link that says "n.allansio" but I can't see the information without being a member. And not sure if that's the artist or person selling it? Couldn't find any paintings under that name.
Luzzi has similar paintings with the red robed cardinal..
dav2no1, I saw all of those Luzzi paintings with red-robed cardinals. I could be focusing on the wrong thing, but all of the Luzzi paintings seem to have Louis XV style furniture (with the curved legs) to the exclusion of any other style.
What intrigues me about the painting in this post (well, among other things) is that the furniture seems to progress from Louis XIV on the left (the cardinal's chair), to Louis XV in the middle (the pianoforte), to Louis XVI on the right (the pianist's chair).
Here are more recital for cardinal paintings:
Heinz Pinggera
https://www.jansantiques.com/Lot/jac1679.php
Giuseppe Guidi
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/catholic-cardinal-listens-to-a-music-recital-by-a-young-news-photo/72922886
Marcel Brunery
https://www.artnet.com/artists/marcel-brunery/the-recital-Qh3RMZorXGiX1x26iMdTwQ2
A couple of clerics jamming:
https://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/The-Recital/098DB275AD2FDC1F
And OK, there's no recital in this one by Andrea Landini, but I just really like it (as a plus, the loveseat is Louis XVI style):
https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/limpatier-impatient-150475
When you say that you saw something at a link containing the string "n.allansio," do you mean that you can see something promising on a Google preview, but get kicked back at the actual site?
Have you tried copying the link and then pasting it into archive dot is?
Kera...Interesting...Heinz Pinggera is about 16 years younger than Luzzi. But Luzzi was recognized at a very young age to be quite talented..they seemed to be painting very similar images..(funny the link you shared says 1900 under his painting, but that is his birthdate)..
I thought you might like this excerpt from one of Luzzi's biographies..it talks about his monumental decorative style and his rococo style..and explains it came from 2 different mentors..
https://www.berardiarte.com/artists/cleto-luzzi/
I guess there is a "b" in that description that would indicate its his birthdate?
dav2no1, Thanks, I read a very similar bio of Luzzi. One of the interesting tidbits to me was his stint as official painter of the King of Siam. The other was the word "bozzettismo."
Dunno about the "b" representing Luzzi's birthdate, because in the top left of the web page, it has "1884 - 1952."
I'm gonna backtrack on describing the cardinal's chair as Louis XIX. We can only see one chair leg, and that leg is quite plain and spindly. It could be Louis XVI.
Then again, we're looking at a product of an artist's imagination, so who knows, huh?