Lot 23: Luigi Cima (Italian, 1860-1938) Passeggiata domenicale 31 x 50 1/2in (78.8 x 128.3cm)

Luigi Cima (Italian, 1860-1938)
Passeggiata domenicale signed 'L. Cima' (lower left)oil on canvas31 x 50 1/2in (78.8 x 128.3cm)

Provenance: Private collection, Indiana (acquired in Italy, 1969);Gifted to the present owner, 2013.Like most of Cima's paintings, the present work is imbued with the Alpine atmosphere, bright colors and warm light of his native town of Villa di Villa in northern Italy. In this bucolic scene, the artist chose to depict villagers going to church in their Sunday finest, rather than showing them working the fields or tending to their animals. This particular scene was a favorite of Cima, as he depicted it in another work, sold at Bonhams in 2005, albeit the groups there are walking in the opposite direction, away from the village.Cima was extremely active in the Venetian art scene, where he exhibited alongside other painters of the Venice School, such as Giacomo Favretto, Guglielmo Ciardi, Luigi Nono, Bartolomeo Bezzi, Alessandro Milesi.In 2016, the city of Mel, celebrated Cima's 150th birthday with a large retrospective of his work entitled Luigi Cima e l'800 veneziano. Pittura di Terra e di Cielo.