Graphite on paper. Featuring surrealist composition. Signed and attributed to Giorgio de Chirico (Italian, 1888-1978) on the lower left corner. Dated and titled on verso, "Il Trovatore seduto - A Pietro con affetto G. de Chirico, 1952." 23 x 15 cm (9.1 x 5.9 inches). Giorgio de Chirico was an Italian artist known for his depictions of dreamlike town squares and still lifes. “To become truly immortal a work of art must escape all human limits: logic and common sense will only interfere,†he once mused. “But once these barriers are broken it will enter the regions of childhood vision and dream.†Born on July 10, 1888, in Volos, Greece to Italian parents, the artist went on to study at the High School of Fine Arts in Athens before attending the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich in 1906. While in Germany, he developed in an interest in the mythological subject matter of Symbolist painters like Arnold Böcklin. Moving to Florence after finishing school, he began producing some of his hallmark works, among them, Enigma of an Afternoon (1910), Mystery and Melancholy of a Street (1914), and The Song of Love (1914). In 1917, he introduced his ideas surrounding what he called Metaphysical painting into writing, helped by his friend Carlo Carrà. Shortly thereafter—though he had gained success and influenced Rene Magritte and Andre Breton—he renounced not only Metaphysical and Surrealist painting but all of Modern art, in an article The Return of Craftsmanship (1919). Revisiting traditional iconography and techniques found in Neoclassical and Baroque paintings, the works he produced elicited disappoint in many critics of the time who failed to see the artist’s vision. Throughout the rest of his life he often made copies of his earlier Metaphysical works to profit on their popularity. De Chirico died in Rome, Italy on November 20, 1978. Today, his works are held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Gallery in London, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, and the Art Institute of Chicago, among others. PROVENANCE: Private estate (Toronto, ON)

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

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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).

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