Pierre Louis Joseph de Coninck (1828-1910) Italian Female Portrait Oil Painting

Our client's beautiful portrait oil painting by the French artist, Pierre Louis Joseph de Coninck (1828-1910), circa 1870, depicts a lovely brunette in white dress and coral earrings and necklace, holding a bouquet of red roses.  Stretcher measures 22 by 30 inches.  Original, ornate giltwood and gesso frame measures 37 by 45 inches.

The model for this charming work is similar to those featured Les Confettis, a group portrait by Coninck offered lot 170 of Sotheby's sale  of 19th Century European Art in New York on October 24, 2006.  The title refers to the tradition of beautiful women at Carnival in Italy throwing trinkets and sweets from balconies to the crowds below.

And for a similar portrait to our work, entitled Italian Beauty, see lot 419 of Sotheby's sale of 19th Century European Art in New York on May 26, 2022, which closed at $8,820.

Coninck studied at the schools of art in Ypres and Lille before matriculating at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1851 under the direction of Leon Cogniet (1794-1880) who was a great influence on his work. He exhibited at the Paris Salon starting in 1857 and won a medals there in 1866 and 1868.  He won a 2nd prize mdeal at the Prix de Rome in 1855 and 3rd prize in 1852, 1853, 1856 & 1858. He spent considerable time in Naples which explains his interest in depicting Italian genre scenes and females in portraiture.  His paintings can be found in numerous museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Dunkirk Museum, and Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille.