Portrait of Giuseppe Giacosa (Ritratto di Giuseppe Giacosa)
The present plaster depicts Giuseppe Giacosa (Colleretto Parello, 1847-1906), comedian and publicist, known for collaborating with Giacomo Puccini and writing for him, together with Luigi Illica, the books for La Boheme (1896), La Tosca (1899) and Madama Butterfly (1903). According to Giolli (1913), the friendship with Troubetzkoy, which probably arose at the Famiglia Artistica, intensified in 1891 during the competition in Trento for the public monument of Dante Alighieri. The present sculpture was very likely created at the Famiglia Artistica (Giolli, 1913 and dates around 1893, since the sculpture was exhibited at the annual exhibition of that same year.
Paul Troubetzkoy (1866-1938), Italy, until 1938;
By descent to the heirs, Rhoda Muriel Marie Somerwell and Luigi Troubetzkoy;
Donated to the Museo del Paesaggio, 1938-1939
Esposizione Annuale alla Famiglia Artistica, Milano 1893;
Mostra Retrospettiva delle Opere di Troubetzkoy, Casino Municipale, Pallanza 1938;
Museo del Paesaggio, Verbania, 1990, n. 24
Famiglia Artistica in "La Perseveranza", 29 December 1893, p. 2;
R. Giolli, Paul Troubetzkoy, Milan, 1913, p. 13;
S. Rebora, in Paolo Troubetzkoy 1866-1938, exh. cat., Turin, 1990, p. 96;
Paolo Troubetzkoy, La Collezione del Museo del Paesaggio, Palazzo Viani Dugnani, Verbania, 2017, p. 58