A Student
Felice Casorati
(Italian, 1883–1963)
about 1930
Medium/TechniqueOil on plywood panel
Dimensions123.7 x 86.7 cm (48 11/16 x 34 1/8 in.)
Credit LineTompkins Collection—Arthur Gordon Tompkins Fund
Accession numberRES.32.8
On View
On viewClassificationsPaintings
Collections
Though he trained as a lawyer, Casorati wanted to be an artist and around 1900 began working in a delicate and decorative style influenced by the Art Nouveau. By 1920 he had come to the style of this painting, with its rough paint surface and solid, blocky forms. Here, palette in hand, a student looks out of the canvas, seeming befuddled or maybe a little disheartened. From the way the scene is arranged it is not clear whether the student is looking at the person who is painting him or at a canvas of his own.
InscriptionsInscribed on the back: FELICE CASORATI/ NO. 22, RITRATTO DI UN ALLIEVOProvenance1931, sold from the Prima Quadriennale d'Arte Nazionale (exhibition), Rome, to the MFA [see note]. (Accession Date: February 4, 1932)NOTE: Two paintings by Casorati, MFA accession numbers RES.32.2 and RES.32.18, were purchased together for $10,050. This painting was exhibited as "Ritratto di un allievo" [annotated by hand in the catalogue: "Riccardo Chiceo"], cat. no. 22 in room 11.
Copyright© 2011 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/SIAE, Rome.
