[stag_toggle style=”normal” title=”Piece details” state=”closed”]Portrait of Prince Ferdinand
Antonio Argnani (1868 – 1947)
Pastel/cardboard, Italian School,
¼ sec. XX[/stag_toggle]
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Royal Court of Romania was visited by one of the most famous portraitists of the era, Antonio Argnani. Born in Faenza, on February 21, 1868, Antonio Argnani discovered his passion for drawing since childhood, spent in an artistic environment. A multifaceted personality, his father, Federico Argnani (1822 – 1905), a ceramist and lithographer, taught drawing at the Faenza Technical School and directed the Pinacoteca of Faenza. In 1889, he published an extensive history of local ceramics from its origins to the 16th century. Antonio took his first drawing lessons in his hometown with Filadelfo Simi (1849–1923), an academic painter and sculptor, a graduate of the Academy of Florence, where he later became a professor. Simi held training courses in Paris and Spain and carried out a fruitful exhibition activity throughout Europe. The lessons with Simi would greatly shape his artistic career.
The young Antonio made documentary trips to Rome and Naples. More than any other Italian city, Naples, with its pastel skies reflected in the waters of the bay, with the ghostly silhouette of Vesuvius, with its palaces, churches and old, colorful neighborhoods, captivated his artistic imagination for almost a decade. Between 1882 and 1891, he settled here and perfected his innate talent as a draftsman through feverish work. He led a bohemian existence, drawing mainly portraits in pastel on cardboard. Argnani came under the sights of the local artist, Domenico Morelli (1826 – 1901), one of the greatest Neapolitan painters of the 19th century and a successful politician. Morelli's painting, permeated by the ideas of Romanticism, with strong medieval accents, assimilated the ideas of the new art, focused on mystical and supernatural themes, called "Metaphysical Painting". Morelli held the position of director of the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples between 1899 and 1901, and his influence on the painting of his young protégé during the Neapolitan period was overwhelming.
Ambitious by nature, Argnani felt the need for change. Having reached the age of maturity – he was forty-two years old – he sacrificed the routine of a quiet but mediocre life for fame and money. Antonio Argnani left Naples full of hope for Paris. The affirmation was not long in coming: in 1904, "Portrait of a Lady", his first Parisian success, triggered an avalanche of orders. Beauties and celebrities of the era from the most diverse social and artistic circles – actors, writers, lyrical artists, aristocrats – became his clientele. However, his talent was revealed especially in female portraits, earning him the title of "Painter of feminine grace". Argnani knows how to capitalize on women, enveloping them with delicate touches in a mysterious, fluid aura of transparent veils, plumed hats, floral tendrils and captivating jewelry. Sensual but inaccessible, in pastel colors, Argnani's ladies smile discreetly at the viewer, while his male portraits exude expressiveness and elegance. Argnani carefully studies his models and knows how to capture their character from small details, from a simple gesture of the hand, but especially from the look. The eyes, as a mirror of the soul, are the ones on which he focuses all his attention. They become the focal point of the work: around the eyes, like a moving spiral, the entire composition develops.
The colorful world of Paris, with its cosmopolitan districts, Montparnasse and Montmartre, real human hives, welcomed him with open arms. The bohemian atmosphere of the city, where Universities and artists' studios coexisted in a friendly neighborhood with the cabarets and brothels of the crazy years of the early 20th century, fascinated him without transforming him into an artist of frivolity. At the same time, Argnani traveled to London and New York, where he created an impressive number of portraits. In 1927, some of his works were exhibited at the Maurice Chalom Gallery, as part of a personal exhibition.
Argnani remains faithful to the pastel technique until the end. He does not understand the new trends in painting: the nudes of his compatriot, Modigliani, the cursed artist, who gradually conquer the City of Lights, seem extravagant to him, Cubism, incomprehensible, and the Futurism of Marinetti and Boccioni, reactionary. Argnani takes refuge in drawing with the passion of a man convinced that art cannot function beyond the limits of decency and good taste.
In 1930, after the bohemian years of Paris, Argnani settled in his villa in the city of Antibes, built in the magnificent landscape of the Maritime Alps in southeastern France, where he devoted himself to his family. The need for refuge and his conservative nature distanced him forever from the hustle and bustle of big cities. His sons, Eugenio and Federico inherited his artistic talent, the first as an engraver and art historian, the other as a cabinetmaker. He died in 1947, after the tribulations of the war years. He left behind thousands of portraits and with them, a world that had faded, but which had fully experienced the luxury and elegance of the Belle Époque.
The Parisian period of his creation gave him the opportunity to meet the Romanian royal and princely family, who commissioned portraits from him at the beginning of the last century, around 1910 - 1912. King Carol and Queen Elisabeth, Princess Maria and Prince Ferdinand, their children, Princes Carol and Nicolae, Princesses Elisabeth, Mignon and Ileana become, through the artist's hand, models full of elegance and tenderness. Most of these portraits appear in Pelişor Castle, the private residence of the Ferdinand - Maria couple and are part of the heritage of the Peleş National Museum.
From the portrait made by Argnani, the heir to the Romanian throne, Ferdinand of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, in military uniform, with a cap and decoration on his chest, still looks at us today. In his well-known style, the artist sketches the props with a few brushstrokes, the order, impossible to recognize, is reduced to a simple ribbon. The figure of the character, on the other hand, absorbs him completely: every detail counts in the economy of the composition. The artist places his model above the perspective with the intention of suggesting his distinction, position on the social scale and intellectuality, but also his shyness, tendency towards reclusion and self-imposed reserve. The sincere eyes, amazingly blue, with sparkles of intelligence save the painting from the danger of stereotype and obscurity. The pastel chromatics, in shades of ochre, brown and colored grays contribute to the general impression of subtlety, elegance and distinction.