(Venice 1841–1917 Paris)
Portrait of an infantry captain, signed, inscribed and with dedication ‘al caro amico Bouffel’ FZandomeneghi 31/12 71, oil on panel, 42 x 19 cm and Portrait of a lady, signed, dated FZandomeneghi 1874, oil on panel, 43.5 x 19 cm, both framed, (2) (GG)

Provenance:
Gallerie Parronchi, Florence;
there acquired by the current owner’s father in 1981;
by inheritance to the current owner,
Private Collection Italy.

Catalogued and illustrated in:
Raffaele Monti, Signorini e il naturalismo europeo, Florence, De Luca ed., 1984, p. 86, nos 75–76;
Francesca Dini, Federico Zandomeneghi: la vita e le opere, Il Torchio ed., Florence, 1989, pp. 113, 208, 406, nos 41, 42;
L’Impressionismo di Zandomeneghi, exhibition catalogue, Venice, Marsilio ed., 2016, nos 21–22.

Exhibited:
Padua, Palazzo Zarbarella, L’Impressinonismo di Zandomeneghi, 1 October 2016–29 January 2017.

The painting „Ritratto di Capitano di Fanteria“ (Portrait of an Infantry Captain) was donated to a friend of the painter and can be dated to 31 December 1874, when Zandomeneghi had been in Paris for six months and had devoted himself to creating portraits.
The figure wears the uniform of infantry captain of the Royal Italian Army. It is possible to identify some of the medals on its chest: from left to right, the first could be the medal commemorating the liberation of Rome, the second is certainly the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, the third is hard to make out, while the last could be a tribute to the war of independence. The number “62” also makes it possible to connect the subject to the 62nd Infantry Regiment.
The image is dedicated to a friend, which could corroborate the hypothesis that this image is a self-portrait, although this remains a mere suggestion.
The portrait of a lady depicts a full-length image of an individual who cannot be identified. The two paintings are reminiscent of works by Bastien-Lepage and Carolus-Duran.