Antique Italian Realism Verismo Oil on Canvas Painting Female Nude Ex-Christie's by Antonio Mancini, 1890

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An important Italian Verismo (Italian Realism) oil on canvas painting, an interior setting with a beautiful nude young woman, by … Read more An important Italian Verismo (Italian Realism) oil on canvas painting, an interior setting with a beautiful nude young woman, by Antonio Mancini (1852-1930), circa 1890.

Mancini was a pivotal and a highly unconventional Italian painter who worked at the absolute forefront of the Verismo movement, which was a late 19th century realism painting style. Verismo rejected the romanticized, polished history paintings taught at the Italian academies. Verismo artists painted everyday reality with loose expressive brushstrokes, using muted palette and heavy use of shadow and textured application of paint. Subjects portrayed were the plight of women, the working classes and the daily struggles of life.
This painting embodies the verismo style and features a beautiful young woman who is startled by a trespasser entering her room. She is naked from the waist up, her hands held up in surprise covering her face and her modesty. The interior features a fireplace to the background and other items of a working class home including a coopered barrel and a large glazed jar.
Mancini created this striking painting employing the techniques of the Verismo style, using atmospheric brushstrokes of thickly applied paint in the impasto style, and the use of shadow to create atmosphere.
The painting is signed lower right, it is housed in the original carved & gilded frame, condition is excellent.
This work was sold at Horta auction in Belgium in 1994 for the USD equivalent of $22,160 and later sold at Christie's auction in 1999, labels to the verso. This stunning painting is ready to hang and grace your wall.

Artist Biography
Antonio Mancini (1852–1930) was a leading Italian painter of the Verismo movement who was celebrated for his tactile impasto techniques and vivid portrayals of ordinary life. Born on November 14, 1852, in Rome he showed exceptional early talent and entered the Institute of Fine Arts in Naples at just twelve years old. Mancini studied under prominent realists and naturalists, including Domenico Morelli and Filippo Palizzi. He very successfully exhibited at the Paris Salon by age 18, gaining rapid international attention. He worked at the forefront of this indigenous Italian response to 19th-century Realism, known as Verismo in Italian. Focused on impoverished children, street vendors, musicians, and juvenile circus performers.
He used a grid or frame device ("graticola") to help map proportions and perspective accurately from life. Built up heavy impasto surfaces, embedding tiny fragments of glass, metal foil, and other unconventional objects to catch and reflect glittering light. Later in life he had mental Health Struggles: Suffered a severe mental health crisis and period of instability in his early career before settling back in Rome where he connected with John Singer Sargent, who regarded Mancini as one of the greatest living painters. Sargent connected him with wealthy British and foreign patrons for society portraits. Mancini left a significant artistic legacy, his paintings can be seen globally in major museums and galleries. See less