Code: 6044
Dimensions:
A very beautiful 1930's impressionist tempera painting on board by Lelia Caetani depicting the River Ninfa, in the Garden of Ninfa, which has been called the most Romantic Garden in the World. Located south of Rome, the garden was owned by the Ceatani family since medieval times and was planted in the English style in the 1920's by Prince Gelasio Caetani. It really is an extraordinary story.
Lelia Caetani is a fascinating female artist - an Italian Princess who was friends with Andre Derain and many other important Parisian artists of the 20th century. Her portrait, painted by Balthus, is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
This work has wonderful provenance having been exhibited in the 1930's at The Lefevre Galleries, London - the pre-eminent dealers in Impressionist and Modern art in the United Kingdom at that time. It was possibly purchased from that exhibition by Sir Phillip Dunn BT. There are also two Italian custom stamps from the early 20th century on the reverse.
Artist: Lelia Caetani (Italian/French, 1913-1977)
Title: The River Ninfa
Medium: Tempera on board
Size: 22 x 32 inches (56 x 82 cm) including the frame
Lelia Caetani was the last descendant of the Dukes of Sermoneta, one of the oldest and most powerful Roman families who gave birth to Pope Boniface VIII.
She was born in Paris where she lived for a long time and where her mother Marguerite, founder of the literary magazine Commerce (1924-1932) and animator in the French capital for an elite circle of artists, painters, writers, including; Claudel, Aragon, Breton, Ungaretti, Faulkner, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Paul Valéry, TS Eliot.
In this cosmopolitan context, Lelia refined her talent for painting thanks to her direct relationship with Balthus and Derain. It is worth mentioning that a portrait of her by Balthus is in the Metropolitan in New York. Muse of Derain, she is also appreciated by Vuillard for her ''true contribution to the pictorial world of his time" . And it was this great artist who wanted to present her first solo show in Paris in 1933, where she made a name for herself with her free style, perhaps more French than Italian: behind each of her paintings lies a story worth telling.
On the occasion of the Paris Biennale in 2016, the important galleries of Maurizio Nobile and Carlo Virgilio exhibited thirty-one newly discovered paintings by Lelia Caetani with views of Paris, London, New York, Venice, Rome and Ninfa, one of the most beautiful gardens in the world, located in the family castle in Sermoneta.
