Lost in Thought
Antonio Mancini (1852 - 1930), c. 1895-1898
oil on canvas, 100 cm x 60 cm
Credits: The Mesdag Collection, The Hague
Antonio Mancini’s Lost in Thought is one of no fewer than fifteen works by this artist owned by the museum.
Mesdag and Mancini had an unusual agreement. From 1885 onwards, Mesdag regularly sent money to the Italian artist in Rome, who in return sent him paintings and drawings, around 150 works in all. Mesdag kept some for himself, but sold the bulk on to others.
In this painting Mancini worked with broad strokes and a loaded brush, rendering the shimmering silk skirt with great verve. The girl’s face is much more delicately painted, whereby her contemplative expression gains in intensity.
- Object number
- hwm0180
- Dimensions
- 100 cm x 60 cm, 130 cm x 90 cm, 13 cm
- Provenance
- Acquired from the artist by Hendrik Willem Mesdag, The Hague, in or before 1899; Collection Museum Mesdag donated by Hendrik Willem Mesdag and Sientje Mesdag-van Houten to the State of the Netherlands, 14 May 1903; Rijksmuseum H.W. Mesdag, The Hague, from 1 August 1903; in trust of the Mauritshuis, The Hague, between 1934 and 1990; in trust of the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam, from 1 April 1990; Museum Mesdag, in trust of the Van Gogh Museum Foundation, Amsterdam, from 1 July 1994, under the name of De Mesdag Collectie from 2011.
- artist
- Antonio Mancini
- Credits
- The Mesdag Collection, The Hague
The Hague, De Mesdag Collectie, Mancini. Eigenzinnig & Extravagant, 6 March-20 September 2020
Leeuwarden, Fries Museum, Interieur met dame, 9 June-8 September 2002
Quarles van Ufford, Adrienne, Mesdag & Mancini, Amsterdam, 2020, p. 40-41, 69, 72
Lindenhovius, Willemijn, Ginex, Giovanna, Bietoletti, Silvestra, Sprezzatura : vijftig jaar Italiaanse schilderkunst 1860-1910, Zwolle, 2019, p. 156-157
Lopez, J., A jewel restored
Dijk, Maite van, Suijver, Renske, Fitski, M., Smits, C., De Mesdag Collectie, Amsterdam, 2011, p. 20
Dijk, Maite van, Suijver, Renske, Fitski, M., Smits, C., The Mesdag Collection, Amsterdam, 2011, p. 20
Hiesinger, U.W., Antonio Mancini : nineteenth-century Italian master : celebrating the Vance N. Jordan Collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 2007, p. 61-62
Bodt, Saskia de, Leeman, Fred, Leeuw, Ronald de, Pennock, Hanna, Museum Mesdag : catalogue of paintings and drawings, Zwolle, 1996, p. 213, 260
Pennock, Hanna, Museum Mesdag : een selectie uit de verzameling, p. 10
Pennock, Hanna, Antonio Mancini en Nederland, Haarlem, 1987, p. 83