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Lot Essay
Una Carita was painted some time in May 1883. According to a letter from Alma-Tadema to Deschamps, dated 11 May, he was residing at the Hotel Tramontano at the Casa Victor Emmanuel in Naples during that month, having spent April in the Alpes Maritimes, France. The artist wrote to Vosmaer: 'To the Institute des Belli Arti [Naples] and for Amendola's Tombola I have painted a small painting.' Amendola, an important Neopolitan sculptor of the time, was a close friend of the artist's.
This pictures seems to have been painted very quickly, perhaps even allé prima with some later touches, probably because it was intended as a gift. It is striking for both its size; it is the smallest of Alma-Tadema's opus numbered paintings, and the dramatic foreshortening - the most marked use of this device within his oeuvre.
We are grateful to Dr Vern Swanson of Springville Museum of Art, Utah, for his help in preparing this entry.
This pictures seems to have been painted very quickly, perhaps even allé prima with some later touches, probably because it was intended as a gift. It is striking for both its size; it is the smallest of Alma-Tadema's opus numbered paintings, and the dramatic foreshortening - the most marked use of this device within his oeuvre.
We are grateful to Dr Vern Swanson of Springville Museum of Art, Utah, for his help in preparing this entry.