522. VIRGILIO COSTANTINI (1882-1940). THE GREEN HAT.

Signed and dated MCMVIII (1908), oil on canvas
128 x 79cm.

Provenance:
London, Richard Green, by 1984 (who suggested a date of c.1915)
Philadelphia, Freeman's, December 2nd 2007, lot 15
Purchased by the present owner in 2008

* Costantini was born at Cefalu in Sicily and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Palermo under the sculptor Mario Rutelli. Later, when studying in Venice, he would have encountered the work of John Singer Sargent, Lucien Simon and Paul Besnard and each informed Costantini's artistic style. By the time of this painting in 1908, Costantini had moved to Paris, where he began exhibiting at the Salon des Independents and the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. He was also a Professor at The Royal Academy in London.