Telemaco Signorini (Florence, 1835 – 1901) is one of the most important artists of the Macchiaioli group. He attended the Scuola Libera del Nudo at the Accademia di Belle Arti from 1854. From 1855, he was often at the Caffè Michelangiolo, a meeting place for artists. Here, the language of art was renewed in opposition to the official academic form. In the same year, he opened his studio on Via della Pergola. Vincenzo Cabianca and Vito D’Ancona were his neighbours.
His trip to Paris in 1861 proved to be extremely important. During this trip, he got to know Camille Corot and the artistic production of the Barbizon School, whose aim was to represent nature from life, through the use of spot painting rendered with large flat backgrounds. The group’s influence would later be applied by the painter to various themes such as landscapes and subjects of social criticism. An animator in the cultural and artistic life of Florence in the second half of the century, from the middle of the eighth decade his international success led him to travel frequently to London and Scotland and to Paris. Here, at the Universal Exhibition in 1878, he exhibited a view of the Ponte Vecchio, which was innovative for its bold framing and lively brushwork.
The small painting depicting a silent “Stradina a Pietramala”, in the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines (lot 317, estimated price €12,000 – €16,000) will be auctioned in the 19th Century Paintings sale on 15 March 2022. Two little girls walk along holding hands, trying to shelter from the warm rays of the sun, rendered with short and airy brush strokes. This painting shows the artist’s desire to be a landscape painter free from didactic implications, leading his own artistic research.
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