Giovanni Costetti - Portrait Of Else Ditlev - Simonsen (1936)

Oil on panel 90 x 80 cm
Signature lower left: 'G. Costetti 1936'.
Exhibited in the exhibition held at the Artists' House in Oslo in 1937

Giovanni Costetti (Reggio Emilia, 1874 - Settignano, 1949). After his military service in 1897, Giovanni Costetti went on a study trip to Berne, where he began to devote himself to illustration, working for some local magazines. He came closer and closer to the Secessionist style and was noticed by the critics.

But Florence also offered him the opportunity to get closer to the masters of the Renaissance, which, over the years, he managed to combine with his growing interest in Symbolism.

In the 1920s, overwhelmed by the return to order, he seems to share the stylistic traits of Valori Plastici, as can be seen in some portraits that are always denoted by an ideal afflatus and fauve chromatism reminiscent of his Symbolist imprint. Thus, he also exhibited with Novecento in Italy and abroad, and in 1931 his solo exhibition at the Bernheim-Jeune Gallery in Paris consecrated his career.