BEAUTY: Painting--Giovanni Boldini

A masterpiece portrait was recently discovered in a Paris flat that had been locked up for the last 70 years. Since then, the painter of the piece, Giovanni Boldini, has been brought into renewed focus for us here in the 21st century. In fact, the lost masterpiece sold at auction for €2.1 million.

Boldini (1842-1931), born in Italy, was a celebrated portrait painter who worked in Paris from 1872 until his death. He was a friend of Edgar Degas, whose influence, I believe, can be seen in Boldini's swishing, flourishing, near-Impressionistic style. I love how the realist portrait style for the faces dissolves into random jagged backgrounds. His work looks like ribbons of color unfurling in a breeze.


Top to bottom: Portrait Of A Young Man; Count Robert de Montesquiou; Portrait of the Artist Lawrence Alexander "Peter" Harrison; Portrait Of Marchesa Luisa Casati With A Greyhound; Walking In The Bois de Boulogne; John Singer Sargent (Standing); La Divina; Spanish Dancer At The Moulin Rouge

http://www.giovanniboldini.org/