1182

Bernardo Amiconi (Italian/British, 1825-1879), "Portrait of a Lady in White, Under an Arbor", 1863, oil on canvas, signed and dated mid-right on edge of ledge, 43-3/4'" x 34-1/4". Presented in a fine, period gesso and giltwood frame. Provenance: Private collection. Amiconi is a somewhat elusive figure, and the few documented biographical facts are intriguing. A native of Italy who lived and worked almost exclusively in London, Amiconi had a seemingly successful career as a portraitist of the English aristocracy and members of the wealthy emigre Italian and Greek communities; sitters of his paintings included the daughters of the Earl of Shaftesbury and a member of the prominent Cassevetti family. Census records reveal that he resided briefly with fellow artist Charles Sibley (fl. 1826-1847), a copyist and a fellow portraitist. Since some references spell the artist's surname with a "g", it is possible that he may have been related to Jacopo Amigoni (1682-1752), a Neapolitan of Venetian parentage who worked in England for several years before returning to his native Italy. Amiconi's will, proved by court in 1878, named his brother, a resident of Naples, as sole survivor and next of kin. While nothing is known of his education and artistic training, the accomplished nature of his painting suggests an academic background of some significance. His portraits, while slightly idealized as was the taste for society portraits of the time, reveal the mien and personality of the sitter, and each is placed within a setting most appropriate for the desired impression. The artist pays careful attention to the compositional arrangement, the color palette - which with the portrait offered here juxtaposes the cool tones of the figure with the deeper warm tones of the background - and the variety of textures - here, the polished smoothness of the beads, the velvet softness of the skin, and the sheer lace of the dress. The delicate luminosity of the skin is especially reminiscent of such Academic artists as William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) and Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867). Amiconi exhibited widely and consistently, at the British Institute, the Society of British Artists-Sussex Street, and had twenty-two paintings, mostly portraits with identified sitters, accepted at the Royal Academy, London, from 1859-1875. In July of 1877, Amiconi's name appears on the admittance records of Bethlem Hospital (colloquially known as Bedlam), London as suffering from "general paralysis of the insane" (now known as paralytic dementia), a distinctly 19th-century term for a neuropsychiatric disorder affecting the brain. An almost certain terminal diagnosis, it was caused by late stage syphilis, which mostly affected men, and was often accompanied by grandiose delusions. References: Wood, Christopher, Victorian Painters. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collector's Club, 1998. p. 23.; The National Archives of the UK; Lunacy Patients Admissions Registers, Series MH9; ancestry.com; museumofthemind.org.uk (the Bethlem Royal Hospital site).


  • Condition: In generally very good condition. Scattered abrasions, especially along edges where canvas meets frame. Scattered small pinprick-sized areas of loss and whitish accretions. Some loosening of canvas within frame; painting has not been relined. Evidence of past restoration: inpainting lower center, lower right and small area at mid-right edge - first two corresponding to waxed patch areas en verso canvas. Craquelure.

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December 6, 2015 10:00 AM CST
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