Lot number 148 - Auction 154
MAUEREINGANG

PIETRO ANNIGONI 1910 Milan - 1988 Florence WALL ENTRANCE Oil on canvas on hardboard. Frame size 56.5 x 66.5 cm. 29.5 x 39.5 cm. Signed 'Pietro Annigoni' lower right as well as with artist's signet and illegibly inscribed. Framed behind glass (unopened). Provenance: Private collection in the Lower Rhine region. Pietro Annigoni was an Italian painter and medallist who is considered one of the most important representatives of figurative realism in the 20th century. Born on 7 June 1910 in Milan, he settled in Florence in the late 1920s, where he studied at the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno under Felice Carena, Giuseppe Graziosi and Celestino Celestini. Annigoni deliberately turned his back on the avant-garde movements of his time and instead focused on the techniques and ideals of the Renaissance. His old master style of painting, combined with a deep spirituality, shaped a body of work that ranges from still lifes and landscapes to impressive portraits and monumental church frescoes. He is therefore also considered a renovator of religious history painting. He made his artistic breakthrough in 1930 with an exhibition in Florence, followed by a solo exhibition in 1932. After further successes in Milan, Annigoni became known nationwide and travelled to Germany, among other places, where he particularly appreciated the painting of the Old Masters. In 1947, he was one of the co-founders of the 'Manifesto of Modern Realist Painters', which advocated a return to representational art. In the same year, he was invited by the Royal Academy of Arts in London - the beginning of his international recognition. In the 1950s and 1960s, Annigoni was considered one of the world's most important portrait painters. His clients included crowned heads, popes, US presidents and numerous public figures. In 1959, he became an honorary member of the National Academy of Design in New York. After the death of his wife Anna Giuseppa Maggini in 1969, Annigoni lived in seclusion in Florence, where he died on 28 October 1988. He was buried in the Cimitero delle Porte Sante near San Miniato al Monte. In 2008, the Museo Annigoni, dedicated to his life and work, opened in the Villa Bardini in Florence.