artwork image
Image courtesy of the Museo del Paesaggio, Palazzo Viani Dugnani, Verbania

The marquise Luisa Casati (La marchesa Luisa Casati)

Year:

1913 (circa)

Dimensions (cm):

60 x 15 x 37

Dimensions (inches):

23.62 x 5.91 x 14.57

Medium:

Sculptures

Material:

plaster

Current location:

Verbania Pallanza, Museo del Paesaggio: inv. T n. 53

Description Provenance Exhibitions Bibliography

An eccentric personality, Luisa Casati was the wife of the marqis Camillo Stampa di Soncino and is the subject of the present plaster. She was famous for her many impersonations and costumes. Her elongated figure and angular face had inspired many artists, such as Augustus John, Alberto Martini and Giovanni Boldini. Troubetzkoy portrayed Luisa Casati in two versions, in wax and plaster. At the Venice Biennale of 1914 the model in wax had been exhibited, where the woman is standing with a greyhound. The present plaster, kept at the Museo del Paesaggio shows missing hands and greyhound. It is very likely that the present portrait of Luisa Casati had been exhibited in at the 1913 Secessione exhibition in Rome. The work is not mentioned in the official catalogue, however, it is mentioned in a newspaper of the time (Il Messagero 1913). As for the portrait of Count Robert de Montesqiou, Troubetzkoy had been inspired by Boldini’s portrait of the Marchesa Casati with the greyhound, which had been exhibited at the 1909 Paris Salon (cfr. P. Dini, F. Dini, Giovanni Boldini 1842-1931. Catalogo Ragionato, Turin 2002, vol. III t. II n. 467).

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

Prima Esposizione Nazionale d'arte della Secessione, Rome 1913, n. 86;
Museo del Paesaggio, Verbania, 1990, n. 167

Falbo,"La mostra della Secessione" in Il Messaggero, 24 marzo 1913;
L'Art et les Artistes, n. 13, gennaio 1921, p. 169;
P. Jullian, D'Annunzio, Parigi 1971;
Grioni,"Prince Paul Troubetzkoy's portraits in bronze" in Antique collector, vol. 55, n. 10, ottobre 1984, p. 84 ripr.;
P. Spadini in Roma 1987 p. 311 n. 239;
R. Bossaglia, P. Castagnoli, L. Troubetzkoy, "Paolo Troubetzkoy scultore", Intra, 1988, pp. 170-171;
S. Frezzotti, in exh. cat. Paolo Troubetzkoy, 1990 p. 208-209;
Paolo Troubetzkoy, La Collezione del Museo del Paesaggio, Palazzo Viani Dugnani, Verbania, 2017, p. 180