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Lot Essay
Born in Modena in 1858, Vittorio Reggianini trained at the local art academy, alongside Gaetano Bellei and Eugenio Zampighi, under the watchful eye of his professor Antonio Simonazzi. Later promoted to professor of the same academy, he continued to participate in shows winning praise from local supporters. In 1885, he moved to Florence, and it was during this period, supported by local dealer Pisani, that Reggianini established himself on the international scene. Both the artist's subject matter and style of painting dramatically shifted from the local historical realism that characterized his early work to the new continental taste for paintings which recreated the luxuriant lifestyles and the opulent decor of the 18th Century.
In the present composition, two ladies at tea are surprised by a young girl who enters the room with a bouquet of roses trailing behind her. Particularly notable is Reggianini's choice of colour and masterful brushwork that renders the rich and satiny texture of the ladies' dresses. Much attention is lavished on the details of the interior, the Roccoco-style parlor room adorned with a Louis XV side table along the rear wall, the gilt-wood candelabra in the form of a classical maiden and the elaborate panels depicting dancing nymphs and putti. The immediacy as well as the delicacy of the character's gestures suggests careful planning on Reggianini's behalf. The composition is more of a 'pretext for showing extremely elegant people in utterly luxurious surroundings. Reggianini, Ricci, Soulacroix and others dwelt lovingly on the richness of texture in the lady's dresses and in the upholstery and draperies. Magnificent furniture was rendered in all its pristine glory. A materialistic society was paying its respects of another society of wealth in which money had not created more and more factories and coal-mines but more and more muslin and brocade, not railways but sedan chairs, not grossness but refinement.' (P. Hook and M. Poltimore, Popular 19th Century Painting, Woodbridge, 1986, p. 296).
In the present composition, two ladies at tea are surprised by a young girl who enters the room with a bouquet of roses trailing behind her. Particularly notable is Reggianini's choice of colour and masterful brushwork that renders the rich and satiny texture of the ladies' dresses. Much attention is lavished on the details of the interior, the Roccoco-style parlor room adorned with a Louis XV side table along the rear wall, the gilt-wood candelabra in the form of a classical maiden and the elaborate panels depicting dancing nymphs and putti. The immediacy as well as the delicacy of the character's gestures suggests careful planning on Reggianini's behalf. The composition is more of a 'pretext for showing extremely elegant people in utterly luxurious surroundings. Reggianini, Ricci, Soulacroix and others dwelt lovingly on the richness of texture in the lady's dresses and in the upholstery and draperies. Magnificent furniture was rendered in all its pristine glory. A materialistic society was paying its respects of another society of wealth in which money had not created more and more factories and coal-mines but more and more muslin and brocade, not railways but sedan chairs, not grossness but refinement.' (P. Hook and M. Poltimore, Popular 19th Century Painting, Woodbridge, 1986, p. 296).