(Livorno 1859–1933 Florence)
Portrait of Diane de la Bouchère, signed, dated and inscribed V. Corcos Firenze 1903,
oil on canvas, 225 x 148 cm, framed, (GG)

Provenance:
Conti Tasca d’Almerita Collection, Sicily;
Private Collection, Italy.

Corcos spent seven years in Paris working exclusively with the art dealer Adolph Goupil. There he met the renowned academic painter Léon Bonnat. Both artists specialised in portraits, a formula that brought them enormous commercial success.

By 1903, when this picture was painted, Corcos was clearly established as one of the leading portrait painters in Italy, and held in great esteem.

This type of formal depiction was favoured by the upper class, such as the sitter, who can be identified as Madame de la Bouchère, wife of Prince Odescalchi and then Ruspoli. She was also the daughter-in-law of Prime Minister Antonio di Rudinì.

She is standing in full length in a sumptuous, long silk dress with a mink bolero in the tradition of an official portrait of the Belle Époque. Her ermine coat is left on a chair.

Madame de la Bouchère’s dress is painted with outstanding virtuosity. The material is almost palpable and the details are executed with extreme meticulousness.

With dark eyes, she gazes directly at the viewer, which creates an affinity between the sitter and the viewer.

Corcos was particularly sensitive to the physical likeness and the psychological character of the sitter, as evident in the present lot. Here, she seems to be indeed a shy person, either by education or dignity, as wife of the prime minister of the austere, newly united, Italy.