1874 Luigi Rossi Oil Painting
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GUEST:
This painting is from my step-grandfather's art gallery and frame shop that he had in Toledo, Ohio. I've always admired it. He gave it to my mother and my mother gave it to me. I really don't know anything, but I've always loved it.
APPRAISER:
First of all, the artist is an artist by the name of Luigi Rossi. And while there's a plaque on the frame, which makes it easy for us, it's also very clearly signed over here. Or I should say clearly signed if you know what to look for because it almost looks like it's integrated into the grass in the painting. After the signature is the number 74. And what that means is that this painting would have been painted in 1874. It's painted on a wooden panel. Very characteristic of pictures done in Europe in the second half of the 19th century. He was born in Switzerland in the early 1850s. And he was educated in Milan and in Paris. And he became a very proficient painter. If you look at how just exquisitely painted it is. These tiny little shoes and these little flowers on her dress and these wonderful chickens down here that she's feeding-- his skill with the brush was really extraordinary. He was also versatile. He painted landscapes and portraits and what we call genre scenes, which are scenes that sort of tell a story, like this one does. And I think one of the things that's fascinating about Rossi is his pictures were very popular in his own time. He became quite a wealthy artist. This was the material that was being sold to the bourgeoisie, the wealthy middle classes, these very traditional, very Romantic pictures. Whereas what was going on in the very contemporary art world with the Impressionists and then the modern painters was completely radical and different. He didn't die until the 1920s, and he was still painting like this. The frame, I think, is original. Now value-- do you have any idea what it's worth?
GUEST:
I figured, oh, I don't know, maybe $5,000. I didn't really know.
APPRAISER:
Well, would you be surprised if I told you an auction estimate on this picture would perhaps be between $12,000 and $18,000?
GUEST:
I'm very surprised. I love the painting. Thank you very much.
APPRAISER:
You are welcome.
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