Basilio Pampuri, black graphite and sanguine, 19th century

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Basilio Pampuri was a draughtsman and lithographer active in Milan in the second quarter of the 19th century. He produced views, portraits (Emilia Tosi, actress at the Teatro Regio in Pavia, 1839), sacred subjects (drawing to be translated into engraving of Christ blesses the Children by Luigi Trecourt in Cremona Cathedral) and genre subjects. He collaborated on the lithographic plates for Giovanni Voghera's Illustrazione dell'Arco della Pace in Milano, Milan 1838 and the pictorial Cosmorama, 1839. A refined male portrait, probably a self-portrait, with an intense, confident and forward-looking gaze. The elegant composition is constructed through the dense intersection of sharp strokes that enhance the figure against a fading background. The long hair falls wavy over the shoulders, the sparse moustache and well-trimmed beard suggest a man with a marked personality. The comfortable dress with a tangible fur collar is reminiscent of Andrea Appiani's drawing of the portrait of Giuseppe Vallardi now in the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice. The great technical skill, a sign of an artist used to the engraving process, is evident in the rendering of the fabrics and their drapery, in the play of light between the beard and hair and in the depth of the gaze. The composition is played on chiaroscuro, colour notes the pink of the mouth and the green of the eyes. Bottom right pencil signature: B. Pampuri dis. Excellent specimen. Good state of preservation, except for some restoration integrating the missing silver fish. Homogeneous yellowing of the paper. Bibliography: Luigi Servolini, Illustrated Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Italian Engravers, Milan, Gorlich, 1955, p. 594.

ID: 11318-1700561572-77008