Mattia Jona, Master Drawings and Prints, Japanese Prints - Piazzetta Guastalla 5, 20122 Milan, Italy, tel (+39) 02 8053315

GIULIO ARISTIDE SARTORIO (Rome 1860 - 1932) PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG WOMAN (Lisa Stillman?)
Oil on panel, signed 'G A Sartorio' and signed again in pen on the back of the panel. 284 x 184 mm.
A painting of the early nineties, when Sartorio's links to European Symbolism became much stronger. Out of an introduction in 1891 to Lisa Stillman, a young American artist linked to the Pre-Raphaelites,
Sartorio quickly developed a strong interest in English art of the period. Lisa was daughter of William Stillman, US Consul in Rome, journalist and painter, and step daughter of Maria Spartali, an artist who trained under Ford Madox Brown and a good-looking woman who sat for Rossetti and Burne-Jones. Lisa Stillman caused a platonic affection in Sartorio, and inspired him for idealized female figures in his works of the years 1891-93. See S. Berresford and P. Nichols, 'Sartorio e il mondo artistico Inglese', in 'Giulio Aristide Sartorio, 1860-1932', exhibition catalogue, Rome, 2006.
It's an attractive hypothesis that the young woman portrayed in this oil sketch is Lisa and in fact there are strong similarities with a self-portrait of Lisa drawn in 1887.

Born into a family of Roman sculptors, Sartorio attended briefly the Accademia di San Luca and began to paint under Fortuny's influence. Later, as a student in Paris, he studied under Gerome. Sartorio also came into contact with the work of Gustave Moreau, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and the other Pre-Raphaelities. In 1882 he painted one of his most important works, 'Malaria', which was partially influenced by the style of his friend Michetti. In 1883 he began to frequent the literary circles of Rome, he also developed a friendship with Gabriele D'Annunzio. In the course of his frequent trips to Paris, London and Weimar, Sartorio acquired a wide knowledge of contemporary European art; these influences encouraged his inclination toward a suggestive 'fin de siècle' style. During the last decade of the century, Sartorio's contact with the Symbolists increased. In 1904 he was one of the founders of the 'Gruppo dei XXV della Campagna Romana'. Sartorio taught at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome and fought in the First World War. He also worked as a director on a few films.