David Trujillo
Head of Sale
Lot 37
Carlo Pittara(Italian, 1836-1890)The bee chaser 55 x 78 3/4in (39.7 x 200cm)
6 October 2022, 10:00 PDT
Los AngelesUS$15,000 - US$20,000
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Carlo Pittara (Italian, 1836-1890)
The bee chaser
signed 'C. Pittara' (lower right)
oil on canvas
55 x 78 3/4in (39.7 x 200cm)
signed 'C. Pittara' (lower right)
oil on canvas
55 x 78 3/4in (39.7 x 200cm)
Footnotes
Provenance
Sale, Sotheby's New York, 19th Century European Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, 9 February 1999, lot 99;
Private collection, Los Angeles.
Carlo Pittara was born in Turin, Italy. He began his studies at the Accademia Albertina, and later moved to Geneva and Paris, where he continued his artistry and recognized the work of the Barbizon school. Here he was influenced by the works of fellow artists Jean-Baptiste-Camille-Corot and Charles-Emile-Jacque. After a few years, the artist returned to Rome and is believed to have initiated a group of landscape painters, who met during the summers near Rivara, in the Canavese, to paint outdoors or also known as en plein aire.This group consisted of artists who worked in the romantic, naturalistic and realistic styles, and eventually became referred to as the Scuola di Rivara.
The present work, The bee chaser, was likely painted during one of Pittara's summer days in Rivara. This large scale painting depicts a group of children relaxing and spending a summers' afternoon outdoor bathing and enjoying picnic fare. They are focused on a bird that is instinctively chasing a passing bee in flight. The scene seems to capture this moment in time with all the realistic style and romance of a great naturalist painter whose vision was to connect the human subjects to their relationships with natural habitats.