Artist: Angelo Asti. It does not have a COA. Oil Canvas. Provenance: This painting comes from a private collection owned by a doctor who has a large and beautiful European antique collection.

Biography: Angelo Asti, Italian 1847 -1903. Everybody is familiar with that lovely picture, Innocence, which has been reproduced times without number and in every civilized land. But not everyone is familiar with the painter's almost romantic history, which terminated in his death in Mentone, France, in 1903. Most people suppose him to be a French artist, probably from the similitude of his figure pieces to French art. It is very proper to consider him as one of the Parisian artists, for he is so by association, and his rise and success all occurred in the city on the Seine. But Angelo Asti, for that is his name, was by birth an Italian. A little more that twenty years before his death a young Asti was a poor immigrant, bound for the United States, in quest of fortune, but for fame, that was not included in his dreams. He did not know that he possessed any particular artistic talent. There never had been, as far as he knew, an artist in his family. He had some little knack as a draftsman, but that is by no means rare among Italians.
Young Asti drifted west and was living in Cincinnati, when he secured employment as a designer in a lithographic house. While working there he developed a talent as an illustrator that was more of a surprise to himself than to any else. With this revelation came the desire to devote himself to more ambitious work. In 1890 he returned to Europe and settled in Paris. Instead of apprenticing himself to one of the great masters, or entering one of the schools of painting, he determined to perfect himself in the art unaided. He daily visited the Louvre and other famous galleries and applied himself seriously, persistently, and practically to the study of every minute detail of painting. At night, in his own room, he tried his hand upon original work, his fancy always running to figure painting.
From the outset his every impulse was dominated less by striking originality or virile force than by exquisite, harmonious beauty. He chose for his particular forte the painting of beautiful womankind, in which his ideal was to create the most perfect ensemble of face, form, grace of pose, and picturesqueness of drapery. His first finished work was admitted to the Salon that year, though the painter himself had no thought, in the first place, of submitting his canvas to the judges. He had sent it to the framer's to have a frame made. The framer was so entranced by the captivating beauty of the painting that he first urged and then begged Sig. Asti to send it to the Salon. It was not only awarded a high distinction, but created a sensation, a most unusual thing for the first exhibited work of an unknown artist.

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

Signed [Artist Name] : In cases in which the signature is legible in the lot, this work is described as-is with no attributions given.

By [Artist Name] : The work is by the artist.

Attributed to [Artist Name] : 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] : The work was executed by an unknown hand, but was designed deliberately to emulate the style of the artist.

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

Circle of [Artist Name] : 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]: A work by a pupil or a follower of the artist (not necessarily a pupil).

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

Mint condition, it needs restoration.

29 x 23 in