BAZZARO LEONARDO (1853 - 1937) - Remembrances

BAZZARO LEONARDO (1853 - 1937). Remembrances. Signed lower left. On the back, inscription on the frame "N° 6 Mylius". Provenance: Probably Mylius Collection, Milan; Private collection, Milan; Private collection, Rapallo. Exhibitions: "National Exhibition", Room XII, Painting-Contemporary Art, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Palermo, no. 511; "The World's Columbian Exhibition", Chicago, The Art Palace, Department K, no. 300. Literature: "Catalogue of the Fine Arts Section. National Exhibition", exhibition catalog, Palermo, p. 24; A. Lo Forte Raudi, "Palermo Exhibition. An Artistic Excursion", in 'Natura e Arte', issue 9, April 1, 1892, Milan, pp. 702-703; "Official Catalogue. World's Columbian Exposition," exhibition catalog, Chicago 1893, p. 193; F. L. Maspes and E. Savoia (eds.), "Leonardo Bazzaro. Catalogo Ragionato delle opere," 2011, p. 234 no. 217 and p. 237 (fig. 217, reproduction of the engraving). Completed in 1891, this large-format canvas with a distinctly "verist" subject dates back to a decisive moment in Bazzaro's career, following his international recognition at the 1889 Paris Universal Exhibition, where he won a medal with "A Chioggia," and shortly before being awarded the gold medal at the Brera Permanente in 1893. The silent dialogue between the two figures animating the painting also becomes a comparison between the extremes of human life: youth, represented by the little girl in the foreground, in full light, busily engaged in her work as a seamstress, and old age, identifiable in the old man who, pensive, almost disappears into the dim light of the background and of the existence. A moment of the harsh daily reality of the working classes at the end of the 19th century is transformed, through Bazzaro's brush, into a powerful allegory of human life, captured through the experiences of the humble, ennobled by the artist in a canvas of considerable size. The work was until now thought to be of unknown whereabouts, so much so that it was known only through printed reproductions, such as the one included in the Catalogue Raisonné of the artist's works.. 101 x 161,50 cm.