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Lot Essay
Romualdo Battista Federico Locatelli was born in Bergamo, Northern Italy to an extended family of artists. Locatelli's paternal grandfather Giuseppe owned a firm that specialized in decorative painting, and his sons Luigi (Locatelli's father) and Giovan Battista worked with him in executing frescoes in numerous Italian churches and palaces. His two younger brothers Raffaello and Stefano were a painter and sculptor respectively, who both were commissioned for portraits of Pope Giovanni XXIII.
By age fourteen, Locatelli was assisting his father to decorate churches, while attending an art academy at the Palazzo di Brera in Milan. It was there that he met his future wife Ermina who was an art student and model. Locatelli painted her on numerous occasions, most notably as the Madonna. In 1927, Locatelli toured Tunisia and Sardinia, gaining a reputation for painting in an Orientalist manner. Later he moved to Rome where he was commissioned to paint numerous portraits by influential patrons including King Vittorio Emanuele III, Benito Mussolini and members of the Vatican.
However, Locatelli is best remembered for the works produced during his tour of the Dutch East Indies. Invited to visit by the colonial governor, Locatelli and Ermina were instantly celebrated as a glamorous couple: the Italian painter who had created a sensation at the Vatican and his stylish wife. After an acclaimed exhibition in Batavia in 1939, Locatelli opened a studio in Bali and flourished for a period until his disappearance under mysterious circumstances in the Philippines.
La Ragazza Nuda (Lot 187) is a rare example of Locatelli's European paintings. Portraying a young unclothed girl with an averted gaze, her firm smooth flesh and Rubenesque torso suggest that she could be an artist's model. Her studied pose and the deliberate use of an elaborate oval cartouche instead of a standard artist's canvas by Locatelli also support this. However another possibility is that La Ragazza Nuda is in fact a portrait of the artist's wife Ermina, who frequently modeled for Locatelli and other artists in her academy. Within this painting, we can see Locatelli's fresh, rapid brushwork and characteristic preference of color-palette in his pre-Bali period, favoring whites and cool mineral tones.
By age fourteen, Locatelli was assisting his father to decorate churches, while attending an art academy at the Palazzo di Brera in Milan. It was there that he met his future wife Ermina who was an art student and model. Locatelli painted her on numerous occasions, most notably as the Madonna. In 1927, Locatelli toured Tunisia and Sardinia, gaining a reputation for painting in an Orientalist manner. Later he moved to Rome where he was commissioned to paint numerous portraits by influential patrons including King Vittorio Emanuele III, Benito Mussolini and members of the Vatican.
However, Locatelli is best remembered for the works produced during his tour of the Dutch East Indies. Invited to visit by the colonial governor, Locatelli and Ermina were instantly celebrated as a glamorous couple: the Italian painter who had created a sensation at the Vatican and his stylish wife. After an acclaimed exhibition in Batavia in 1939, Locatelli opened a studio in Bali and flourished for a period until his disappearance under mysterious circumstances in the Philippines.
La Ragazza Nuda (Lot 187) is a rare example of Locatelli's European paintings. Portraying a young unclothed girl with an averted gaze, her firm smooth flesh and Rubenesque torso suggest that she could be an artist's model. Her studied pose and the deliberate use of an elaborate oval cartouche instead of a standard artist's canvas by Locatelli also support this. However another possibility is that La Ragazza Nuda is in fact a portrait of the artist's wife Ermina, who frequently modeled for Locatelli and other artists in her academy. Within this painting, we can see Locatelli's fresh, rapid brushwork and characteristic preference of color-palette in his pre-Bali period, favoring whites and cool mineral tones.