Giuseppe SIGNORINI (1857-1932) - Lot 75

Giuseppe SIGNORINI (1857-1932) Driving Prisoners in Africa, c. 1892 Watercolor. Signed and located Paris lower right. 139 x 85 cm sight Provenance: Commissioned by Ambrose Lanfear Norrie circa 1892. By descent. Giuseppe Signorini, born in Rome in 1857, studied at the Academy of Saint Luke and later became a pupil of Aurelio Tiratelli. He quickly gained recognition for his talent as a watercolorist, specializing in Orientalist subjects and particularly interested in costume. He also possessed an extensive collection of Oriental objects and textiles, and is said to have organized a costumed "Arab festival" in his home town in 1881. He spent 33 years in France, with his Paris studio at 13, rue Hégésippe, and exhibited at numerous salons. He was a great success with the American public, and his works can be found in museums such as the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Brooklyn Museum and the National Gallery of Art in Washington. A brief article in The American Register for Paris and the continent on July 30, 1892 (p. 6) mentions a painting commissioned by Mr. Norrie, a New York collector, entitled "La Manière de Conduire des Prisonniers en Afrique"; the painting has been preserved by the family to this day.