Died 20th century Known for Portrait painting | Nationality Italian | |
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Bice Lombardini (19th-20th century) was an Italian artist. Few details of her life are known but she is notable due to her iconic portrait of the composer Verdi.
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Biography
Lombardini was born in Venice in the second half of the 19th century.
Works
In 1891 Lombardini painted a portrait of Emma Zilli, the originator of Alice Ford's role in the work of Verdi's Falstaff, who had sung the soprano role during a concert held in Udine. Lombardini exhibited a painting called Interno della chiesa di San-Marco ("Interior of St Mark's Church") at the 1895 Venice Biennale.
It is thought that she painted Giuseppe Verdi after his death in 1901. Her portrait is thought to be based on a series of photos taken by the Italian photographer Pietro Tempestini during a stay in Montecatini Terme in 1899. This portrait of Verdi was chosen by the Museum of the Risorgimento (Turin) to illustrate the great intellectual figures of Italian unification and preserved by the Museum of Musical Instruments of the Conservatory in the same Palazzo.