ANTONIO MANCINI | SUONATRICE DI MANDOLA, LIUTISTA

Otto Eugenio Messinger, Munich (commissioned directly from the artist) 

Cassani, Milan (by 1961) 

Bertolotto, Turin

Leandro Ozzola, L'Arte contemporanea alla Esposizione di Roma del 1911, Rome, 1911, p. 22

Leandro Ozzola, "Artisti contemporanei: Antonio Mancini," Emporium, June 1911, vol. XXXIII, no. 198, p. 422, illustrated 

Vittorio Pica, L'arte mondiale a Roma nel 1911, Bergamo, 1913, p. 374, illustrated 

Enrico Giannelli, Artisti napoletani viventi. Pittori, scultori, incisori, architetti, Naples, 1916, p. 310

Cronache, "La Mostra italiana di Zurigo," Emporium, October 1918, vol. XLVIII, p. 216

Guglielmo Gatti, Pittori italiani dall'800 a oggi, Rome, 1925, p. 114

Andrea Corna, Dizionario della Storia dell'Arte in Italia, Piacenza, 1930, vol. II, p. 620

Agostino Mario Comanducci, I pittori italiani dell'Ottocento, Milan, 1934, p. 389

Michele Biancale, Antonio Mancini, la vita, Roma, 1852-1930, Rome, 1952, p. 133-34 (as Liutista) 

Antonio Schettini, Mancini, Naples, 1953, p. 225, illustrated pl. LI

M. Borghi, Da Mancini a Scipione. Galleria di artisti italiani, Rome, 1960, p. 47

Michele Biancale, Arte italiana. Ottocento e Novecento, Rome, 1961, vol. 1, pp. 149, 152, illustrated

Dario Cecchi, Antonio Mancini, Turin, 1966, pp. 237-38, 248

Antonio Schettini, La pittura napoletana dell'Ottocento, Naples, 1973, vol. 3, p. 171

Don Riccardo, Artecatalogo dell'Ottocento. "Vesuvio" dei pittori napoletani, Rome, 1973, vol. 2, p. 294

Hanna Pennock, Antonio Mancini en zijn relatie met Nederland, PhD dissertation, Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht, 1985, p. 109, no. 58 

Manuel Carrera, "Antonio Mancini in Inghliterra. Il rapporto con John Singer Sargent," Storia dell'arte, Florence, September-December 2012, p. 168

Cinzia Virno, Antonio Mancini, Catalogo ragionato dell'opera, Rome, 2019, vol. I, p. 377, no. 655, illustrated 

Rome, Esposizione Internazionale, 1911, no. 89 (as Suonatrice) 

Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Internationale Tentoonstelling van Hedendaagsche Kunst, 1912, no. 599 (as Jonge italiaanse in me giapponese con vaso)

Zurich, Kunsthaus, 1918

Madrid, Salòn de Otoño, 1922, no. 404 (as Mimosa)

Antonio Mancini’s Suonatrice di mandola, Liutista was commissioned by the German Antiquarian Otto Messinger and painted in Munich in 1909-1910, while the artist was a guest at his home. Mancini was commissioned to produce a series of works reflective of Messinger’s taste for the fine and decorative arts, which ranged from Old Master paintings to European furniture, Italian textiles and musical instruments—and in the present work the Renaissance-style chair, mandolin and Japanese vase. In total there were five works in this series, all of which were square in format and featured a seated female model in a decorative interior. Mancini also completed a full-length portrait of his patron, which features a similar dark background and inclusion of an antique vase (1909, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome, fig. 1)

Suonatrice di mandola, Liutista demonstrates Mancini’s study of seventeenth century portraiture and genre scenes by artists such as Diego Velazquez, Frans Hals and Rembrandt in its dark color palette and strong contrast of light and dark. The present work also showcases Mancini’s more modern and innovative use of thick impasto, dominated by black, white and red hues, which gives the surface dynamism and emphasizes the textures and patterns of the fabrics and decorative objects on display.