Elegant lady- Luigi Bompard, c. 1914

Portrait of an elegant lady, drypoint etching made by Luigi Bompard around 1914. Signed both in the plate and dedicated…

Portrait of an elegant lady, drypoint etching made by Luigi Bompard around 1914. Signed both in the plate and dedicated and signed in pencil in the lower left. Size: 41,5 x 30,5 cm.

Luigi Bompard (1879-1953) was an Italian illustrator who, from the end of the 19th century, worked for numerous newspapers and magazines at that time very prosperous in Bologna. From 1903 he also designed posters.

His best works however, are the depictions of elegant and charming ladies, sometimes accompanied by gentlemen set in the foyer of a theatre, a restaurant, salons or the racing tracks where high society showed its vanity. Bompard was a careful observer of the habits and customs of people. Through his paintings and illustrations he followed the evolution of fashion and the transformations of Italian society for fifty years.

The woman, the subject of almost all his works, was captured through expressive glances, casual gestures and sensual poses. The women’s attitude dissolved in an ironical veil, offering a certain regard of their nature for the reading public of novels and magazines of that epoch.

Luigi Bompard dedicates this etching to Emilio Treves (1834-1916), Italy’s most important publisher of the day.

Price: SOLD