Lot 143
ANDREA LANDINI (ITALIAN, 1847-1935)
NE BOUGEONS PLUS
Auction: 13 October 2016 at 12:00 BST
Description
Signed, oil on canvas
Dimensions
51cm x 61cm (20in x 24in)
Footnote
Note: Landini began his career as a portrait painter working within Florentine society, earning various commissions in response to his skill and reputation. In search of a more lucrative level of commission, Landini moved on to Rome and then Paris, where he focussed on, and ultimately became the leading artist within the genre of Cardinal painting.
The popularity of the genre lay in its humorous send-up of the previously highly-respected, uncriticised sector of society and the suggestion in these paintings that they led an extremely lavish lifestyle, and were not quite as respectable as they might wish to appear. The genre became particularly commercially successful as a result of a new economic prosperity, and the simultaneous reduction in respect for the church across society more generally.
The highly finished nature of Landini's painting was particularly suited to the portrayal of such lavish and luxurious scenes, picking up the intricate details of their robes, furniture, silverware and objet d'art.