RAFFAELLO SORBI (ITALIAN, 1844-1931)

Joyous skipping, exuberant dancing and cheerful models are ever present in Sorbi’s high spirted scenes of Easter processions and harvest dances. These were idealised interpretations of country life sought after by the artist's many admirers and collectors. Such high spirits are translated into a classical setting in the present lot. Ladies skip with tambourines and cymbals, and make merry music whilst the bacchanalia ritual gets underway. A garlanded impish Bacchus takes his place a little further back, riding a donkey in the midst of the procession. The raised Thyrsus symbolise hedonism, prosperity and pleasure.
Sorbi's mastery of colour is illustrated here in the reds, whites and blues which show the toga dresses in flowing motion against the greens of the vines. His talent had been rewarded earlier in his career when the celebrated Parisian art dealer Goupil signed a contract with him in 1872 for all his works. His fame culminated when he won the prestigious Commendatore del Regno, the highest Italian distinction. After his representation by Goupil in France, his work was brought to the attention of a wider European audience with representation by Heinemann in Munich, by Arthur Tooth & Sons in London, and by Schulte in Berlin.