Adolfo Tommasi, Young Woman Seated with a Wheelbarrow, 1890s-1900s, Oil on Canvas, Framed

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Description

Title: Young Woman Seated with a Wheelbarrow

Artist: Adolfo Tommasi (Livorno 1851 – Florence 1933)

Technique: Oil on canvas mounted … Read more Title: Young Woman Seated with a Wheelbarrow

Artist: Adolfo Tommasi (Livorno 1851 – Florence 1933)

Technique: Oil on canvas mounted on panel

Period: Late 19th century / Early 20th century (Mature Period of the Artist)

Signature: Adolfo Tommasi (bottom right)

Dimensions: 45 x 52 cm including frame, 26 x 32 cm panel.

: This delightful oil painting on canvas mounted on panel, signed by Adolfo Tommasi, sensitively portrays a young female figure seated on the ground, leaning on a large wheelbarrow wheel or similar rustic object. The scene is set in a rural or workspace, with a large terracotta vase and a background of earthy, blue tones.

The girl wears a simple, light blue dress with a low neckline that leaves her shoulders exposed, and her feet are bare. The posture is one of thoughtful repose, with the gaze directed downward, lending the work an atmosphere of intimate melancholy or a tranquil respite from toil.

The style is fully attributable to Tommasi's mature period:

Vibrant Touches: The brushstrokes are synthetic and vibrant, especially in the treatment of the fabric and the background.

Light and Atmosphere: The artist demonstrates his evolution from Macchiaiolism to a greater exploration of light and atmosphere, typical of the Impressionist influences he embraced at the end of the century.

Subject: The work falls within the vein of his rural and genre subjects, in which the artist captures moments of everyday life with a subdued and anti-rhetorical poetics.

Framed in a rich gilded frame, this painting represents a fine example of Tuscan painting between the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Biographical Notes on Adolfo Tommasi (1851 – 1933)

Adolfo Tommasi was an important Italian painter, born in Livorno in 1851 and died in Florence in 1933. He is considered one of the most significant exponents of post-Macchiaioli Tuscan painting.

Education: After high school, he devoted himself to painting. He trained at the Academy of Florence, where he was a student of Carlo Markò junior, who introduced him to landscape painting.

The Influence of the Macchiaioli: The crucial encounter for his art occurred in the late 1870s, when he met and assiduously associated with the Macchiaioli master Silvestro Lega, who profoundly influenced his naturalistic painting.

Stylist Evolution: Initially attached to a firm Macchiaioli conception of color, Tommasi distinguished himself with genre and landscape painting that aroused great interest. Subsequently, in the late 1880s, his style expanded toward the light and atmospheric experiments of Impressionism, while maintaining a personal poetics focused on the "real" everyday, often featuring rural subjects or scenes of everyday life.

Favorite Subjects: His work is rich in Tuscan and Ligurian landscapes, seascapes, and scenes of everyday life (such as peasants at work, urban views, etc.). Among his best-known works are Dopo la brina (After the Frost) (1880), which drew both criticism and praise for its unusual subject matter, and Primavera (Spring) (1892), purchased by Umberto I for the Galleria d'Arte Moderna in Florence.

Acknowledgements: He exhibited successfully in Florence, Milan, Turin, and Rome. He won the gold medal at the International Watercolor Exhibition in Milan in 1893. His works are now preserved in important institutions such as the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Rome and the Galleria d'Arte Moderna di Palazzo Pitti in Florence. See less