Vittorio Matteo Corcos

Ross-Lawson Galleries, London (in 1968)
Private Collection
Thence by descent (and sold: Sotheby's, New York, February 12, 1997, lot 118, illustrated)
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Livorno, Museo Civico G. Fattori; Florence, Galleria d'arte moderna, Palazzo Pitti, Vittorio Corcos: il fantasma e il fiore, June 26-October 12, 1997

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This painting has been fairly recently restored and in its beautiful frame, should be hung as is. The canvas has been lined with a synthetic and reversible adhesive. The paint layer is clean, varnished and retouched. The three figures are almost completely without retouches. The seated woman has a few small retouches in her dress on the lower edge where some frame abrasion left a few marks. In the lower right corner there are a few retouches, yet none of them on the signature or date. There are no retouches in the water. There are a few spots in the upper left and upper right of the sky. In the upper center and upper left quadrant there are half a dozen diagonal marks of restoration which have been applied to eliminate some mild discolorations of the paint layer. The conidian of the figures is beautiful and the picture should be hung as is.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Mezzogiorno al Mare was painted during Corcos' pivotal years in Paris, where he worked exclusively with the prominent art dealer Adolphe Goupil, who also represented the artist's close Italian contemporaries, Giovanni Boldini and Giuseppe de Nittis. Corcos is known to have painted several beach scenes at Biarritz in 1884, the year in which this work was executed. Mezzogiorno al Mare is an important example from this period, with its striking depiction of three exquisitely dressed Parisian élégantes, impeccably coiffed and styled, gazing intently at some unknown attraction further along the beach. The flawlessly painted surface, devoid of evidence of the artist's brushstroke, perfectly suits the ladies' porcelain-like physical beauty. Corcos clearly intends the viewer to focus solely on the women, the relatively empty background and their frieze-like arrangement leading the eye from one to the next. Corcos also omits the action which has piqued their attention, another device to further showcase the women's comely appearances. The inclusion of the beach chair with its Arts & Crafts design is a stylish addition to the scene and an interesting foil to the more traditional textiles of the ladies' dresses.  

Corcos traveled to Paris in 1880 at the encouragement of his teacher in Naples, Domenico Morelli, with whom he had studied in 1878 and 1879. The works which Corcos painted for Goupil and exhibited at the Paris Salon in the 1880s gained him a reputation as the "peintres des jolies femmes." His subjects were graceful ladies immersed in the height of fashionable Parisian life, at the Opera, along the boulevards, or at the beach.  His sharp observations and accomplished technique, together with his strong  sense of composition, rendered his works some of the most sought after of his time. Upon returning to Italy in 1886 with his reputation established and a successful relationship with Goupil in Paris, Corcos became one of the pre-eminent Italians portraitists, traveling frequently and painting members of the Italian nobility, monarchs and leaders throughout Europe, and his contemporary writers and artists.