Pastel On Paper Signed Giacomo Grosso. Turin, 1890.

Large pastel portrait signed Giacomo Grosso, 1890, with period photographic documentation. Turin, Accademia Albertina.

Remarkable and large pastel work on paper mounted on canvas, executed and signed by Giacomo Grosso (Cambiano, 1860 – Turin, 1938), a renowned Piedmontese portrait painter and leading figure in the Italian art scene between the 19th and 20th centuries. The painting is dated 1890 and depicts a mother and her daughter in a richly furnished bourgeois interior, with great attention to decorative detail and psychological expression.

The composition, of impressive size, stands out for the naturalness of its setting and the precision in rendering fabrics, upholstery, and objects — including a large glass vase and books arranged on the table — all reflecting the refined bourgeois sensibility of the era. The woman’s serene yet watchful expression, and the child’s absorbed gaze, convey a strong emotional intimacy, expressed with Grosso’s characteristic painterly sweetness.

The work was exhibited in Giacomo Grosso’s studio at the Accademia Albertina in Turin in 1891, as documented by period photographs.

Original coeval frame in carved and gilded wood.

Very good condition: well-preserved pastel, with slight rippling of the paper and minor signs of age consistent with the period.