Born in Ferrara, Italy on December 31, 1842, Giovanni Boldini was exposed to art firsthand by his father, who supported his large family by doing painting and restoration work. Giovanni initially studied the usual classical techniques, yet he later rebelled against the establishment with a group of artists tired of academically rigid standards. Gathering at Florence’s Caffè Michelangiolo, these young painters developed a style that was dappled or blotted—or macchiato—with color, making them both the Macchiaioli and sort of Italian cousins of the French Impressionists.
From The Macchiaioli to Paris
The Macchiaioli were fond of painting outdoors and broadening subject matter to include more realism, but Boldini himself was never quite a true Bohemian member of the group. His landscape and genre scene skills sharpened through exposure to their methods, but Boldini was not a fan of the starving artist lifestyle and outrightly enjoyed delicious food, elegant surroundings and beautiful models. He left Florence to develop an initial following in London, and by 1871 Boldini had made Paris his home base, though he did travel often, including a trip to Spain and Morocco with fellow artist Edgar Degas.
Portraits and Influence
Boldini’s skill at portraiture made him popular among international society circles, much like the younger American expatriate John Singer Sargent. Boldini took over Sargent’s Boulevard Berthier studio when Sargent moved to London in 1885, and Boldini even painted a rakish portrait of Sargent in 1890. Both men had a genius for capturing the essence of an individual’s personality, and each was quite successful and in demand. Boldini’s talent, however, was often more frothy and fluid, particularly in his paintings of women. He was known as the “Master of Swish” for his fleetingly lovely female portraits, which suggested rustling Belle Èpoque silk and organdy over smooth bare flesh.
When Boldini honed in fully on a subject, however, the results could be remarkable. His 1886 portrait of Giuseppe Verdi is one of his best known works, with the bewhiskered composer in a top hat and opera scarf, his features strong but his eyes somewhat searching and uncertain. Other notable portraits include the dandified French poet Robert de Montesquieu, actress Sarah Bernhardt, and painters James McNeill Whistler and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. French master Edouard Manet was grudgingly influenced by Boldini, and Boldini’s unique poses of women in finery would inspire fashion photographers of the next century.
Later Years and Legacy
Though he wasn’t very tall or dashingly handsome, Boldini possessed the requisite charm to woo his share of females—on canvas and off. He was still confident enough of his virility to marry a younger bride at age 86, and he died two years later in Paris in 1931.
More recently, the irrepressible Boldini made his way back into headlines when one of his works was found in a Paris apartment. The apartment had been shuttered since World War II, and with the recent death of its owner, a missing Boldini was discovered. It was another of his gorgeous ladies, an actress named Marthe de Florian, who had had many significant suitors and who was also the grandmother of the apartment‘s lessee. Once verified as a true Boldini painting, Marthe’s rosy 1898 portrait sold at auction for some $3 million U.S. dollars.
Giovanni Boldini’s artwork can be found in museums throughout Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States, the Sterling and Francine Clark Museum in Massachusetts housing the largest American collection. There is also a museum devoted exclusively to Boldini in his hometown of Ferrara.
Sources
- "The Master of Swish" -- Time Magazine, April 1933
- Strapless, John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X -- Deborah Davis (Penguin Group, 2004)
- In Impressionist Paris, The Face of the Belle Èpoque -- The New York Times
- Parisian Flat Containing Painting Lay Untouched for 70 Years -- U.K. Telegraph.com
