7 RITRATTO DI MIA FIGLIA - EN

7.  Ritratto di mia figlia 1941 oil on canvas, 99 x 79 cm

This lively vertical painting shows a painting of a vase of flowers positioned on a large easel behind the portrait of his young daughter Mity in the foreground. Mity is standing, with her arms crossed, her head slightly tilted to the left and her hair black. She wears a dark suit with a white collar and her thoughtful gaze does not meet ours, typical of Catarsini’s portraits. Tubes of paint and books are arranged like familiar objects in the painter’s studio, while on the wall we can glimpse a fragment of one of his canvases dedicated to the canals of Viareggio. The presence of the still life on the easel underlines Catarsini’s interest in this pictorial genre, which had been evident since the mid-1920s and was often integrated into his portrait works.

Insights

The portrait was painted in 1941 in the new atelier in the Palazzo Comunale in Via Regia in Viareggio, where he had moved during the summer of the previous year. The large easel is still at the Atelier Catarsini in  Villa Museo Paolina Bonaparte in Viareggio

In 1941, Catarsini continued to exhibit nationally, especially landscape works, such as Barche di renaioli sent to the Third Exhibition of the National Fascist Union of Fine Arts at the Palazzo dell’Arte in Milan.