396 - VITTORIO MATTEO CORCOS (1859-1933)

VITTORIO MATTEO CORCOS (1859-1933) Portrait of a Gypsy Woman Oil on canvas signed lower right Size: 38 x 30 cm - Italian portrait painter born in Livorno, he began his artistic studies in Livorno and continued them at the Florence Academy of Drawing with Enrico Pollastrini. He perfected his skills in Naples in the studio of Domenico Morelli, becoming one of his best pupils, whose style, strongly influenced by formal research and literary references, notably the work of Byron, exerted a great influence on the young Vittorio Matteo. In 1880, Corcos moved to Paris, where he signed a contract with Goupil, a gallery owner and art dealer managed at the time by Van Gogh, and regularly frequented the studio of Léon Bonnat, portraitist to the Presidents of the French Council. He then turned to a style of painting similar to that of his compatriots, with a formal majesty inspired by the research of contemporary photography, and mainly produced sharp portraits of elegantly-dressed women and genre scenes, characterized by fluid brushstrokes and brilliant colors. In 1904, Corcos, a renowned painter, painted portraits of Wilhelm II, his wife and numerous German personalities in Germany. Marguerite de Savoie, wife of Humbert I of Italy, and Amélie d'Orléans, the last queen of Portugal, were other crowned heads that Vittorio Matteo Corcos immortalized. In 1913, his self-portrait was included in the Vasari Corridor collection of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.