Lot Essay
Painted circa 1875-6.
Signorini was a leading figure in the Macchiaioli movement in Florence whose artistic theories evolved concurrently to those of the Impressionists in France. His work was influenced by that of the Quattrocento Italian masters, and also by Delacroix, Decamps and the Barbizon artists whose sincere and realistic depiction of their environs corresponded with his interest in recording the impressions and fleeting instants of scenes from his native Italy. Of all the Macchiaioli, Signorini was said to be the most cultivated and he exhibited not only throughout Italy, but also in Paris, London and Philadelphia. He traveled on numerous occassions to Paris to attend the Salons and Exposition Universelles, and he fraternized with Manet, Zola, and Degas. In 1878, he exhibited in Paris at the Exposition Universelle and was subsequently encouraged by his friend Boldini (see lot ) to contribute to the Italian section of the Exposition Universelle of 1889 when he won a bronze medal.
A preliminary drawing for Una Via di Ravenna is illustrated in the Catalogo Mostra di Disegni di Telemaco Signorini, Galleria Nacionale d'Arte, Rome, 1969, no. 184, and also in Raffaele Monti's, Signorini e il Naturalismo Europeo, p.? no. 103/104.
Signorini was a leading figure in the Macchiaioli movement in Florence whose artistic theories evolved concurrently to those of the Impressionists in France. His work was influenced by that of the Quattrocento Italian masters, and also by Delacroix, Decamps and the Barbizon artists whose sincere and realistic depiction of their environs corresponded with his interest in recording the impressions and fleeting instants of scenes from his native Italy. Of all the Macchiaioli, Signorini was said to be the most cultivated and he exhibited not only throughout Italy, but also in Paris, London and Philadelphia. He traveled on numerous occassions to Paris to attend the Salons and Exposition Universelles, and he fraternized with Manet, Zola, and Degas. In 1878, he exhibited in Paris at the Exposition Universelle and was subsequently encouraged by his friend Boldini (see lot ) to contribute to the Italian section of the Exposition Universelle of 1889 when he won a bronze medal.
A preliminary drawing for Una Via di Ravenna is illustrated in the Catalogo Mostra di Disegni di Telemaco Signorini, Galleria Nacionale d'Arte, Rome, 1969, no. 184, and also in Raffaele Monti's, Signorini e il Naturalismo Europeo, p.? no. 103/104.