72 - Virgilio Guidi (1891–1984)

Virgilio Guidi (1891–1984) Portrait of a Woman, approximately 1918 Oil on canvas 75.5 x 62 cm Signature: “Guidi” on the front Distinctive features: on the reverse, two illegible stamps with an inventory number (?); shipping label; exhibition label with information about the work and the lender Provenance: Leopoldo Tega, Milan (until 2002); Veneto Banca SpA in LCA Bibliography: Marco Goldin, ed., “From Ca’ Pesaro to Morandi. Art in Italy 1919–1945 from Private Collections,” Cornuda, 2002, pp. 174–175 (ill.); Stefano Cecchetto, Giovanni Granzotto, and Dino Marangon, eds., “Homage to Virgilio Guidi. With a Look at the Sonino Collection,” cat. 4, pp. 122–123 (ill.) Exhibitions: Marco Goldin, ed., “From Ca’ Pesaro to Morandi. Art in Italy 1919–1945 from Private Collections,” Conegliano, Palazzo Sarcinelli, April 21–June 30, 2002 Condition. Support: 85% (re-stretched) Condition. Surface: 90% For direct WhatsApp assistance before and during the live auction: +39 346 12 999 80 // Direct assistance via WhatsApp before and during the auction: +39 346 12 999 80 Trained in Rome through evening courses at the Scuola Libera di Pittura, the studio of restorer Giovanni Capranesi—who introduced him to the paintings of the Renaissance and Baroque masters—and his attendance at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, where he took courses with Giulio Aristide Sartorio, Virgilio Guidi immediately gravitated toward the structural solidity of Italian painting—Giotto, the 15th century—and French painting—Courbet, Cézanne. At the same time, he took an interest in the art of Matisse, Renoir, and, among Italian artists, Armando Spadini, delving deeply into issues of light and the themes of the synthesis of form and color and the relationship between space and light. This artistic exploration is already clearly evident in this early portrait of a woman, painted a few years after his debut at the Third International Exhibition of Roman Secession Art in 1915. It is likely a slightly later version of a similar painting—one with a more concise and fluid style and smaller dimensions—published in the artist’s general catalog, where it is chronologically dated to 1918 (Franca Bizzotto, Dino Marangon, Toni Toniato, “Virgilio Guidi. General Catalog of Paintings. Volume One,” Milan, 1998, p. 83, no. 1918 4, 61 x 50 cm) and sold at auction by Farsetti in 2015 (Auction No. 174 – II. Modern Art, November 28, 2015, lot 575). In a sparse space, geometrically defined by the square shape of the chair’s backrest and the sharp division between the lit area on the right and the shadowed area on the left, a woman sits in a slight three-quarter profile; simply dressed, her arm resting calmly on her leg, gazes ahead with a serene expression. The monumental composition, the precise rendering of space and volume, and the solemn simplicity of the image—set in the brown tones of the palette—clearly reveal the artist’s study of classical models, while the soft yet steady light that seems to emanate from the figure’s very complexion itself reveals the artist’s reflection on the work of Piero della Francesca. A light that is not of a physical nature but—as in the 15th-century master—internal, supersensible, and mental, consubstantial with form and color, capable of shifting the image onto a plane of timeless classicism and which, increasingly, over the years, will tend to strip the volumes of their gravity, taking on ecstatic and metaphysical characteristics. This artistic exploration, poised between classicism and metaphysical anxieties, is one that Guidi would share with many other leading figures in postwar Italian painting. The work comes from Leopoldo (Dino) Tega, owner of the Galleria Tega in Milan. According to Toni Toniato (oral communication from Stefano Demarco on June 1, 2021), the version published in the general catalog does not come from the Tega Gallery (as erroneously indicated in the catalog, which for a long time led to the misconception that it was the same painting) but rather from the Annunciata Gallery in Milan. Sabrina Spinazzè We thank Toni Toniato and Stefano De Marco for their assistance in cataloging the work.