Fausto Zonaro

LOT 275 PROPERTY FROM AN ITALIAN PRIVATE COLLECTION FAUSTO ZONARO ITALIAN 1854 - 1929 THE AEGEAN COAST (i) signed F. Zonaro lower right; signed and dated F. Zonaro / 6 Luglio / 1906 on the reverse; (ii) signed F. Zonaro lower right; dated and inscribed Agosto 1904 viaggio / N. XVI on the reverse both oil on panel each: 22 by 36.5cm., 8¾ by 14½in. (2)

Fausto Zonaro (Italian, 1854-1929) Mafalda on the Banks of the Bosphorus, the Dolmabahçe Mosque in the background signed 'F. Zonaro' (lower right) oil on canvas 25½ x 37¾ in. (64.7 x 96 cm.) Private collection, Italy. Together with Alberto Pasini, Fausto Zonaro is the artist most famously associated with Constantinople. Appointed Court painter to the Sultan Abdulhamid II in 1896, Zonaro lived in Turkey from 1891 until his patron's overthrow in 1909, and was the most important figure to introduce a western style of painting to the country. Despite his formal title, and a few large-scale official commissions, Zonaro was above all a painter of modern Turkish life, whose primary aim was to render the light of Constantinople and the Bosphorus, and the daily activities and traditions of its people. Upon his arrival in the city, it was said that Zonaro was 'awake day and night', eager to capture the daily activities of its people, its busy marketplaces, the ships and frigates along the Bosphorous, and the unique landscapes from which he gained an optimal vantage point of all sides of the city. Zonaro's artistic temperament upon arrival in Turkey was informed by a variety of influences, not least the anti-academic outlook prevalent in Italy that was first represented by the macchiaioli, and later by the plein-air colourists of Venice, such as Guglielmo Ciardi, where Zonaro briefly set up a school of painting in the early 1880s. As a maritime city, Venice's mixture of water, limpid atmosphere, historic architecture and bustling daily life, provided a visual template that could be quickly adapted to the city he would later adopt as home. He also spent a significant amount of time in Naples and in 1888, travelled to Paris, where he was struck by both the Impressionists and, notably, by the Orientalist drawings of Eugène Delacroix. The present painting is a testament both to the influences Zonaro had absorbed and the ease with which he settled into life in Turkey. He paints his daughter in a fully frontal composition; despite her western dress, she blends in well with her surroundings and appears fully at ease. The light of the painting is soft and diffuse, suggesting an evening setting; the whole is effected with an economy of means, lending the picturesque an immediacy which brings it straight to life. This painting is a larger variant of a composition by Fausto Zonaro representing the other of the artist's two daughters, Jolanda (fig. 1). The Dolmabahçe Mosque in the background, completed in 1855, is one of the country's most highly decorated Baroque-style mosques. The circular arrangement of the windows, which resembles a peacock's tail, remains its most unusual but defining architectural feature. This painting has been examined and authenticated by Cesare Mario Trevigne, the artist's great-grandson, and is sold with a photo-certificate dated 18 May 2012.

Fausto Zonaro (Italian, 1854-1929) Moonlight on the Bosphorus signed 'F.Zonaro' (lower right) oil on canvas 15½ x 26¼ in. (39 x 66.7 cm.) PROPERTY OF AN ITALIAN COLLECTOR This painting is one of at three known variations of the same composition executed by Zonaro; the other two include a small oil panel (R. Falchi & U. Spigno, Le tre stagioni pittoriche di Fausto Zonaro, Turin, 1993, no. 111, illustrated), and a pastel in a private Italian collection (exhibited Monselice, Complesso Monumentale San Paolo, Da Venezia ad Istambul Fausto Zonaro, Elisa Pante, due artisti veneti alla corte del Sultano, 24 April - 23 May 2010, fig. 1). Executed in a style that almost resembles the artist's pastels, the painting is characterised by a technique of short, dotted brushstrokes, which reflects a degree of experimentation quite close to Divisionism, and which is quite different to the broader, thicker paint application more often used by Zonaro. Such a technique is consonant with Zonaro's reputation as a "painter of light", and here wonderfully conjures up both the moon's reflections on the water, and the silvery hue with which it imbues the night sky. We are grateful to Marco Bertoli for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.

Fausto Zonaro (Venice 1854–1929 San Remo) View of the French Riviera, signed F. Zonaro, on the reverse old adhesive label Douanes Nice Gare, oil on canvas, 36.8 x 60.6 cm, framed, (W) We are grateful to Erol Makzume for his assistance in cataloguing this work. Email dated 10 November 2011: Mr Makzume suggests the title “Sulla acque di Cannes”. The stamps and label on the reverse indicate that the painting was executed on the French Riviera. Several of his works are known, each stamped and bearing this label, which are all dated between the period 1912–1918. The exhibition “Dal Bosforo al Capo Faro” was held in Genoa in 1918 at which Zonaro exhibited 76 paintings of San Remo, Monaco, Antibes, Bussana, Cap Martin, Cannes and Nice. This may have been one of the paintings shown at this exhibition. Provenance: Private Italian Collection Specialist: Dr. Christl Wolf

Fausto Zonaro (Italian, 1854-1929) Portrait of a gentleman signed dated 'F. Zonaro/1921' (upper left), oil on canvas 72 x 51.7cm (28 3/8 x 20 3/8in). Estimate: £800 - 1,200, € 920 - 1,400 Request Condition Report Born in Padua, Fausto Zonaro moved to Istanbul in 1891 and quickly adapted to the Turkish way of life, speaking Turkish, wearing a fez and attending the Selamlðk. He remained in Istanbul until 1911, when he moved to San Remo during the Trablusgarp War, and where he died in 1929. Considering the date of the above work, the gentleman depicted is likely to be a dignitary of that city. We are grateful to Erol Makzume, co-author of Fausto Zonaro, Ottoman Court Painter (Istanbul, 2003), for his assistance in the preparation of this catalogue entry.