1903 - 1903 - XX

GAM 1524

Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 205; Larghezza: 101

olio su tela

XVIII Biennale di Venezia - Venezia - 1932

The work was bought by Luigi Frugone in 1926 from the dealer Ferruccio Stefani. In a letter, the collector does not hide his enthusiasm for the possession of the painting, for which he uses the adjective ‘unsurpassable’. The painting was actually destined for the Marquise Matilde Giustiniani Pallavicini Durazzo of Genoa, who wanted to start a collection of modern works of art. But Stefani did not give up proposing it to Luigi, due to the friendly and privileged relationship he had established with the industrialist, and sold it to him for 130,000 lire. In 1932, at the 18th Venice Biennale, on the occasion of the retrospective dedicated to Giovanni Boldini, "Miss Bell" was exhibited with the explicit indication of Luigi Frugone's ownership. Portrait of an elegant young woman, possibly identifiable as an actress from the Comédie Française, Marie Jeanne Bellon, known as Miss Bell. The canvas is signed and dated “Boldini 1903”. The portrait, with its lively and casual air, is characterised by a framing that captures the subject from top to bottom: the composition is rebalanced by the spiral movement of the clothes, which, together with the quick and synthetic brushstrokes, gives airiness and momentum to the whole. The contrast between the black colour of the bow and hair, the luminous whiteness of the neckline and the iridescent red of the dress contributes to giving the painting a very strong emotional impact, so much so that it has become the symbolic image of the Frugone Collections.