Casimiro Aldini TOMBA
(Rome 1857 - Rome 1929)
A Female Nude on a Leopard Skin Rug
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Watercolour and gum arabic, over an underdrawing in pencil.
Signed and dedicated all’amico Stefanori / CTomba at the lower right.
226 x 364 mm. (8 7/8 x 14 3/8 in.)
Signed and dedicated all’amico Stefanori / CTomba at the lower right.
226 x 364 mm. (8 7/8 x 14 3/8 in.)
The present sheet bears a dedication to the artist’s friend, the Roman painter, watercolourist and etcher Attilio Stefanori (1860-1911). The drawing later passed into the collection of the eminent art historian Julius S. Held (1905-2002). As Christopher White has noted, Held ‘was a keen collector of drawings who made a virtue of a limited pocket by selecting either unfashionable subjects by better known artists or examples by the more obscure.’ A large number of drawings from Held’s collection is today in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
A genre painter and watercolourist, the Roman artist Casimiro Tomba remains little known today, despite the modest success he achieved in his lifetime. He exhibited frequently in Rome, Turin and Bologna, and in 1928 wrote and illustrated a small book entitled Via Margutta e gli artisti. Tomba was particularly highly regarded for his finished watercolours of Orientalist or genre subjects, which he exhibited and sold as independent works of art.
Provenance
Given by the artist to Attilio Stefanori, Rome
Professor and Mrs. Julius S. Held, Old Bennington, VT (his mark, not in Lugt, stamped in black ink on the verso).