Young Boy With A Cigarette – Neapolitan Realism / Early 20th Century / Oil On Canvas

Striking portrait of a young boy wearing a beret, cigarette in the corner of his lips, frank and insolent look. This oil on canvas is part of the tradition of Italian realism of the early 20th century, in the line of the works of Mancini, Palizzi or Favretto. The artist, whose signature appears at the bottom left but remains difficult to decipher, demonstrates a beautiful mastery of modeling and light, in the service of an expressive and direct genre scene. The rendering of the knitting, the chiaroscuro on the face and the nonchalant posture of the model bring to life this popular character, represented with a raw and unvarnished humanity, in the spirit of the pictorial naturalism of the time.

37 x 26 cm without frame
59 x 49 cm with frame
The work is highlighted in a gilded wooden frame, with a marie-louise in blue-grey fabric.