Graphite on paper. Sketch of a boy. Signed and attr. Giorgio Morandi (Italian, 1890-1964). 8.9 x 6.4 in. (22.5 x 16.3 cm). Giorgio Morandi was an eminent Italian artist known for his subtly colored still-life paintings of ceramic vessels. Working in both oil and watercolor, Morandi also depicted sunbaked landscapes, both from his studio window and outdoors in the Apennine hills. The artist’s paintings are often interpreted as a quiet rejection of the tumultuous modern world. “I am essentially a painter of the kind of still-life composition that communicates a sense of tranquility and privacy, moods which I have always valued above all else,†he once explained. Born on July 20, 1890 Bologna, Italy, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in his native city. Influenced by Georges Seurat and Paul Cézanne as a young man, Morandi participated his countryman’s Giorgio de Chirico’s Metaphysical Art during the 1910s. This changed around 1920, when his aesthetic began to more closely resemble the frescoes of Piero della Francesca than works of the avant-garde. Over the decades that followed, Morandi’s paintings underwent minor adjustments, yet consistently strove towards compositional balance and harmonized color. The artist died on June 18, 1964 in Bologna, Italy. In 2018, his ovular painting Natura morta (1941), broke an auction record for the artist when it sold at Christie’s for $4,332,500. Today, his works are included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Tate Gallery in London, and the Museo Morandi in Bologna, among others.

All authorship of items in this catalog are described according to the following terms:

By [Artist Name] : In our opinion, the work is by the artist.

Attributed to [Artist Name] : In our opinion, the work may be ascribed to the artist on the basis of style, but there may be some question as to actual authorship.

In the manner of [Artist Name] : In our opinion, the work was executed by an unknown hand, but was designed deliberately to emulate the style of the artist.

After [Artist Name] : In our opinion, the work was executed by an unknown hand, but is a deliberate copy of a known work by the artist.

Circle of [Artist Name] : In our opinion, a work of the period of the artist showing his influence, closely associated with the artist but not necessarily his pupil.

Follower of [Artist Name]: In our opinion, a work by a pupil or a follower of the artist (not necessarily a pupil).

American, 19th century : In our opinion, this work was executed by an unknown hand, and can only be identified by origin (i.e., region, period).

Bears signature : In our opinion, the signature on the artwork may be spurious.
Apocryphal : Of doubtful authenticity.