DIMENSIONS:Â (unframed)Â 22.0 x 30.0 in./55.9 x 76.2 cm
SIGNATURE:Â Signed lower right
MEDIUM: Oil on canvas
La Chiacchiera (The Gossip)
£19,750
The Gossip is a beautiful genre scene, painted in the genre style for which Eugenio Zampighi was so well known, and with which he enjoyed great commercial success. The painting portrays a family in a simple countryside interior. The subjects are depicted smiling, with rosy cheeks and a healthy countenance. A young woman sits at the table, with a hen at her feet. She is reading a newspaper, and an older man stands behind her, reading over her shoulder. On the right, a child looks admiringly towards the two adults. The group are surrounded by symbols of an idyllic rural life; leaves litter the stone floor, well used jugs and a bowl sit on the table, and a simple picture of the Virgin and Child hangs on the wall behind. The painting romanticises the lives of rural Italian people; implying their simple happiness and Christian morality. This kind of work was highly popular commercially amongst wealthy Europeans of the 19th and early 20th Century, who longed for a piece of their imagined country existence.
Provenance
Private Collection, United States
Buy with confidence: our assurance to you
Professional Associations
We have built up a strong reputation for the quality of the paintings, drawings and sculpture that we curate, exhibit and sell. Our professional associations with bodies such as The British Antique Dealers’ Association (BADA) and the Association of Art & Antique Dealers (LAPADA) are as a result of our reputation for integrity, our wide knowledge of fine arts and the high quality of our stock. Our business standards and expertise are reviewed regularly to adhere vigorously to enforced Codes. Our memberships and commitment to its Code of Conducts gives our buyers confidence when purchasing a work from us.
Authenticity
Condition reports and certificates of authenticity vary in their nature by artwork, for more information on your pieces of interest, please enquire with the gallery.
Artwork images
We take pride in the attention we give to our images of the artworks for purchase and invest in these to ensure outputs are aligned as closely as possible to the item in reality. We do not apply filters or modify images, we provide high-quality images to reflect the high quality of our artworks.
Your purchase process
Payment processing – You can be assured that payments are securely processed through Stripe’s trusted payment gateway.
The Trinity House promise to you
Shipping and packaging
Shipping and packaging requirements are assessed per piece to ensure the most suitable protection for the artwork. Trinity House will therefore call following purchase to agree the recommendations and costs.
Our After Sales services
We offer the following services which we will be happy to discuss with you following your purchase, alternatively, you can enquire for more information.
Insurance
We offer insurance appraisals to protect your prised artwork and help you find the right cover and policy for you.
Framing
We are able to advise on framing and have access to every type and style to suit any artistic period or room setting.
Conservation
The nature of the materials involved in a painting mean that on occasion some pieces are susceptible to movement and the effects of natural ageing. We are able to provide advice on practical measures to conserve the original condition of a piece and have relationships with restorers and framers to offer you a range of services to meet your needs.
Biography
Eugenio Zampighi was an Italian painter and photographer, mainly of Genre subjects; idyllic images of simple family life in rural Italy.
He enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Modena under Antonio Simonazzi. He was influenced from a young age by the Modern Realist painter Giovanni Muzzioli. In Muzzioli’s style, Zampighi made paintings of scenes from history, with the subjects presented as contemporaneous Italian people. After winning the prestigious Poletti Prize for painting in 1880, with his entry, A gladiator wounded in a Flavian Amphitheater, he was given the opportunity to continue his studies in Rome, and then in Florence, where he settled permanently in 1884.
During the 1880s, he became interested in genre painting. These pictures of simple everyday goings-on, led Zampighi to incredible success on the Italian art market, and brought him international commissions. He was inspired by the style of Gaetano Chierici, and by the Florentine Macchiaioli School.
His forays into the new technology of photography always took place mainly in his studio with the aid of models in peasant costume or the dress of the common people. He used the photographs as a kind of sketch for his paintings, which allowed him to work without the constraints presented by using live models. The photographs were the basis for joyous and idyllic paintings of Italian rural life, devoid of any hint of social criticism. The innocent nature of Zampighi’s work was therefore greatly appreciated by foreign tourists and wealthy people who lived in cities, who wanted a piece of countryside life. Consequently, Zampighi worked in this style until his death in 1944.
