E. Gordigiani, Portrait Of Lina Bietoletti, Florence 1949, Oil On Canvas

E. Gordigiani, Portrait of Lina Bietoletti, Florence 1949, oil on canvas

Dimensions with frame: 79 × 69 cm

Without frame: 58 × 48 cm

Portrait of Lina Bietoletti, painted in Florence in 1949, when she was just over twenty. Daughter of a well-known collector of Tuscan art, she belongs to a cultivated Florentine milieu.

The figure is shown frontally, with a steady posture and direct gaze. The face is built through juxtapositions of colour — greens, pinks, yellows — which define the volumes with a concise, controlled synthesis.

Behind her appears a decorative textile or panel, rendered in a deliberately flat manner, while the figure retains a more constructed presence. This contrast is clearly stated and recalls certain late solutions by Henri Matisse.

The palette is vivid, with strong contrasts between the blue of the dress, the red collar, and a non-naturalistic treatment of the flesh tones, in line with post-impressionist tendencies still active in the Tuscan context after the war.

The paint surface remains visible and participates in the construction of the face; the high hairstyle introduces a precise reference to contemporary fashion, contributing to the character of the sitter.

Signed and dated “1949” upper left.

Edoardo Gordigiani, a Tuscan painter, grew up in the artistic environment of his father Michele Gordigiani and developed a more independent approach, in which colour plays a structural role. His presence in the artistic circle of via degli Artisti in Florence reflects an active and open cultural setting.