[Paganini, Nicolò. (1782-1840)] Basiletti, Luigi. (1780 - 1859/60)
Original Lifetime Portrait
A very finely painted portrait miniature, signed, inscribed and dated 1819 by the artist on the verso "N. Paganini / 'Il Mago' / 1819 / L. Basiletti fece," with a label also attached to the reverse of the frame recording a virtuoso musical passage in pizzicato from Le Streghe, and noting there that this portrait was executed following a performance by the great violinist at the Teatro di Alessandria [Alessandria, Italy], "A Ricordo...di...Streghe...[2 measures musical notation] vista...Maestro N. Paganini / Teatro di Alexandria 1819 / da Mr. Basiletti Luigi / Brescia." Oil on canvas, 9 cm. diameter, set in a contemporary wooden frame, 14 cm diameter. With some modest cracks to the paint, no evident losses, else fine.
This portrait records Paganini as a handsome younger man, very much in keeping with the famous portrait by Ingres dating from the same year and well before the twisted and sinewy portraits of the violinist's later years. The present portrait was apparently accomplished from memory after a performance in the Piedmont city of Alessandria, attended by the artist Luigi Basiletti.
Basiletti was born in Brescia but lived and worked also in Bologna and Rome and his Cascade at Tivoli is displayed at the Brera Academy at Milan. Also an architect, he contributed to the architectural decoration of the cupola by Luigi Cagnola for the Duomo Nuovo of Brescia (1820) and with the architect Vita a design for the Mercato del Grano (1820 - 1823).
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