Cosimo Conti (1825-1893) - Oil on canvas - Hunting scene

Cosimo Conti (1825-1893), Italian painter. Oil on canvas. Hunting scene. Signed at the bottom right. Circa 1890. Golden and varnished wooden frame. Dimensions with frame: 55x71cm. Dimensions without frame: 49x65cm. Very good condition, restorations and relining. *1. A thwarted artistic vocation. Cosimo Conti first underwent a classical education with the Piarist fathers (Scolopi). His father strongly opposed his early inclination for drawing and forced him to pursue strict studies in mathematics to prepare him for a commercial career. It was only at the age of 18 that he finally managed to overcome family opposition. He began to draw self-taught before joining the prestigious Academy of Fine Arts in Florence (Accademia di Belle Arti). There, he studied painting under the guidance of Tommaso Gazzarrini and Giuseppe Bezzuoli, as well as perspective with architect Emilio De Fabris. He then completed his artistic training in the private studio of history painter Enrico Pollastrini. 2. The history and genre painter. Conti publicly exhibited for the first time in 1848. Very quickly, he made a name for himself in history painting, a genre highly valued by institutions at the time. His compositions are inspired by literature and Italy's glorious past (such as The First Meeting of Petrarch and Laura or Michelangelo sculpting the head of a faun). Sensitive to the upheavals of his time and to Italian unification (Risorgimento), he painted several major patriotic works. His painting L'eccidio della famiglia Cignoli (depicting the massacre of a peasant family by Austrian troops in 1859) was awarded at the Italian National Exhibition of 1861 and is now preserved at the Gallery of Modern Art in the Pitti Palace in Florence. Alongside his large official canvases, he produced numerous portraits and outdoor genre paintings (notably hunting scenes and lively rural landscapes).