Description
Italian painter (19th century) – Painter’s palette with portrait of a young woman.
Oil on wooden palette.
Work initialled lower right: «M.B.».
This unusual work depicts the face of a young woman painted directly onto a wooden painter’s palette, turning the working tool into a pictorial support. The portrait, executed with a loose and confident touch, shows the figure at half-bust against a neutral ground, with dark hair and a white lace collar with floral detail. The swift, assured technique points to the milieu of late 19th-century Lombard painting, with stylistic affinities to the work of Mosè Bianchi. The initials «M.B.» inscribed lower right connect the work securely to the circle of the Monza painter.
Condition report: Good state of conservation of the pictorial surface. Cracking and signs of wear present on the palette.
