Gaetano Gandolfi
S. Matteo della decima 1734 - Bologna 1802
106 x 154 mm
De Vesme no. 17; Gozzi no. 15 II/II
Monogrammed lower center: GGF
Very fine impression, brilliant and richly inked, in the second state of two, monogrammed GGF in lower center, printed on lad paper, without watermark.
In excellent condition, with regular margin all around.
This rare print was attributed by De Vesme to Gaetano Gandolfi in 1906. De Vesme knew an impression in the Cabinet of Prints of the National Library of Parma.
Fausto Gozzi, in his Catalogue on Gandolfi’s prints, published another fine impression of our etching, which is in private collection (no. 15).
The sheet depicts a Capriccio of heads. In the foreground, frontally, there is a man with mustache, turban and a plume, which bears on his shoulder the artist’s monogram. On the left we can see two female profiles and on the right side, in the shadow, two male profiles.
The Capricci di teste was very much in vogue at the time of the Gandolfi and all three of the artists competed in the genre with graceful and refined drawings and engravings
This vogue is documented also by the existence of an album of 23 etchings made by Luigi Tadolini (1758-1823); a specimen of the complete series is kept in the Jacques Doucet Library in Paris (see D. Biagi Maino, 1994, Gaetano Gandolfi’s capricci of heads: drawings and engravings, in The Burlington Magazine, CXXXVI, n. 1905, June, pp. 375-379).
References:
De Vesme, Le Peintre-Graveur Italien, Milan 1906, pag.515, no. 17
Fausto Gozzi, Ubaldo, Gaetano e Mauro Gandolfi: Le incisioni, 2002, n. 15
Price: 4,900.00 €
Information on the master
Gaetano Gandolfi was a Bolognese artist that, with his brother Ubaldo, refreshed the quiet scene of Bolognese graphic since 1760. Both were born in San Matteo della Decima and both enrolled at Accademia Clementina of Bologna where, apart from some short trips, they worked almost in their city. Gaetano, younger six years than his brother, won two medals for sculpture and four medals for his drawings. He spent a year in Venice in 1760 and in 1783 he visited London, maybe after an invite of Richard Dalton who was in Italy finding objects d’art for Giorgio III.
As we said before, Gaetano received numerous commissions for altarpieces for churches throughout Emilia and elsewhere, and also worked extensively as a fresco painter. One of his first important decorative projects was a ceiling fresco of the Four Elements, in the Palazzo Odorici. This was followed by work in several other Bolognese palaces. Very rare and fine were his etchings and aquatint. Throughout his life Gandolfi remained actively involved in the affairs of the Accademia Clementina, where he taught a class in life drawing. Gandolfi was a gifted draughtsman and a fine engraver; his works were highly prized.
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