Giuseppe Bernardino BISON - Two Elegantly Dressed Ladies Holding Flowers

Period	1750-1850, 18th century, 19th century
Origin	Italy
Medium	Pen, Brown ink and wash, Touches of red, yellow, green wash, Underdrawing in black chalk
Dimensions	24.1 x 19.4 cm (9¹/₂ x 7⁵/₈ inches)
Gallery	Stephen Ongpin Fine Art

Description
Technical

Although similar elegant figures appear in several of Giuseppe Bernardino Bison’s genre paintings and gouaches, this fine and fresh drawing was, like many of his drawings, in all likelihood executed as an autonomous work of art. Indeed, it is an unusually highly finished and coloured example of the artist’s spirited draughtsmanship.

Among stylistically comparable works in watercolour by Bison is a study of the head of a woman in a private collection, and a drawing of a woman seated on a rock, sold at auction in London in 1981. Also similar are watercolour drawings of Four Peasants in Conversation in the Castello Sforzesco in Milan and The Family of the Fisherman in a private collection.

Period: 1750-1850, 18th century, 19th century
Origin: Italy
Medium: Pen, Brown ink and wash, Touches of red, yellow, green wash, Underdrawing in black chalk
Signature: Numbered 10.x and inscribed N(?)14 - Par Tomas Lawrence on the verso.

Dimensions: 24.1 x 19.4 cm (9¹/₂ x 7⁵/₈ inches)
Provenance: Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby’s, 28 January 1998, lot 58
P. & D. Colnaghi, London, in 1998
Private collection, London.

Literature: Adriano Cera, ed., Disegni, acquarelli, tempere di artisti italiani dal 1770 ca. al 1830 ca., Bologna, 2002, Vol.I, unpaginated, Bison no.28.

Exhibitions: New York and London, Colnaghi, Master Drawings, 1998, no.35.

Categories: Paintings, Drawings & Prints