Giovanni Boldini (1842-1931)

Uomo in Chiesa (Man Seated in a Church), 1921

Watercolor on paper 17 5/8 x 17 5/8 inches (44.8 x 45 cm.) Inscribed '12. uomo in chiesa' & 'n° 121 atelier Boldini./ Emilia Boldini. - Cardona/ 1921' verso

Provenance The artist's widow, Emilia Cardona Boldini (studio stamp (L. 272b) , Galerie Jean Charpentier, 30 June 1936, lot 39, where acquired by With Wildenstein, Paris Baron Maurice de Rothschild (1881-1957), by descent Their sale, Christie's, New York, 1 November 1995, lot 1 With Colnaghi, , 1996, where acquired by Private collection Their sale, Christie's, New York, 24 January 2017, lot 124, where acquired by Private collection, New York

Literature E.C. Boldini, Lo studio di Giovanni Boldini, Milan, 1937, pl. LXXXV C. Ragghianti and E. Camesasca, L'opera completa di Boldini, Milan 1970, pp. 114-5, no. 3171 P. Dini and F. Dini, Giovanni Boldini 1842-1931: Catalogo ragionato. III/2. Catalogo ragionato della pittura a olio con un’ampia selezione di pastelli e acquerelli, Turin, 2002, pp. 406-7, no. 754 T. Panconi, Giovanni Boldini: L’opera completa, Florence, 2002, p. 401

Note The son of a painter and restorer in , Giovanni Boldini studied at Florence's Art Academy in 1864. He first exhibited his work in 1867, visiting the Exposition Universelle in Paris the same year. Early on, Boldini stood out as a portrait painter. During a trip to London in 1870 he received several portrait commissions. The following year, he established a studio in Paris. Boldini first showed at the Salon in 1874, his distinctive and dashing paintings appreciated by the local audience. Through his Parisian dealer Adolphe Goupil, Boldini's portraits of elegant women in lavish interiors found aficionados in England and America. After moving to a new studio in 1885, Boldini started to produce society portraits, soon developing a formidable reputation for his dazzling, elegant depictions of Paris's high society. By the turn of the century Boldini was the most sought- after portrait painter in Paris. He befriended and Whistler, and became close friends with Degas. His fame reached as far as America, from where he received numerous commissions after exhibiting at Boussod, Valadon & Co. in New York in 1897.

1 Listed incorrectly as located in the Museo Boldini in Ferrara.

Boldini was a gifted and somewhat compulsive draughtsman, filling several sketchbooks, menus, postcards and receipts with dynamic sketches and more elaborate studies. A large group of drawings were bequeathed by the artist’s widow in 1935 to the Museo Giovanni Boldini in Ferrara. Among them is a portrait of Degas, depicted in a similar meditative pose with his cheek resting in his hand. The present energetic watercolor is possibly a portrait of his friend the caricaturist Georges "Sem" Gourçat (1863-1934). Listed among the properties left by the artist in his studio, carefully catalogued by his wife Emilia Cardona Boldini, this luminous drawing soon after entered the collection of Maurice de Rothschild, a friend and passionate collector of Boldini’s work. Giovanni Boldini Portrait of , c. 1885-90 Charcoal on canvas, 60.5 x 46 cm. Museo Boldini, Ferrara

Sem and Boldini in Paris in 1902 (photo from Bianca Doria, Boldini, Amico Mio, Rizzoli 1998)