Lot 45: Lazzaro Pasini (Italian, 1861-1949) Picking grapes

Picking grapes
signed and inscribed 'Lazzo.Pasini/Milano' (lower right)
oil on canvas
150 x 105cm (59 1/16 x 41 5/16in).

PROVENANCE:
A gift from the owner's grandfather to his wife, early 20υth century;
Thence by descent.

Lazzaro Pasini was born in Reggio Emilia in 1861. He studied at the Accademia in Florence under Giovanni Fattori and from 1886 he worked in Milan among a group of artists including the sculptor Nicola Fiore. He exhibited widely from 1884, including showing at the Esposizione Nazionale in Turin and at an exhibition of the work of Lombard artists in Milan in 1900. He also showed at the Bienalle in Venice in 1912, 1914 and 1922 and elsewhere including London, Antwerp and Leningrad. Towards the end of the 1920's he held three one man shows in Milan. His fine attention to detail combined with sentimental subjects proved poular with the public and his work sold well.
Pasini's work is often divisionist in style, but latterly it broader and closer to the work of the Impressionists. He died in Milan in 1949.