Vittorio Matteo Corcos (1859 – 1933), “Portrait of Vivien Chartres with Her Violin”, 1907

Vittorio Matteo Corcos (Livorno 1859 – 1933), “Portrait of Vivien Chartres with Her Violin”, 1907. Oil on canvas, 170.4 x 90 cm. Signed and dated "To the dearest Vivien V. Corcos Florence 1907" The young girl in this delightful portrait is Vivien Chartres, a violinist and child prodigy, painted at the age of thirteen. Vivien was born in Turin in 1893 into a very wealthy family: her father was John Smith Chartres (1862 -1927), an Anglo-Irish lawyer and journalist, an activist for the Sinn Féin political party for Ireland's independence from the English Crown, as well as close to the revolutionary Michael Collins. Her mother, the prolific writer of Italian-German origin Anna Emilia “Annie” Vivanti (1866-1942), was the daughter of a wealthy silk merchant and the writer Anna Lindau, sister of the playwright and novelist Paul Lindau and the diplomat Rudolph Lindau. In these wealthy births, little Vivien grows up full of intellectual stimulation, fueled by her enterprising mother Annie, who pushes her towards a musical career. The child demonstrates a very early and exceptional talent for the violin, so much so that she moved to Prague at the age of only ten to continue her studies, under the guidance of the most prestigious violin teacher of the time, the Czech Otakar Ševcík. In 1904 she debuted at Queen's Hall, one of the most famous concert halls in London, at the same time as other young violinists performed, including her contemporary Misha Elman (1891-1967) and the already well-known Marie Hall (1884-1956). The child's fame even reached the royal courts and in a short time she held private concerts for Queen Margherita of Savoy and King Edward VII of England. It is at the peak of Vivien's career that Corcos paints this work: the girl wears a dress typical of the children's fashion of the Belle Époque, wide at the waist and with a flowing line, with a lace collar and puff sleeves; similar models can also be found in the photographs that portray her. Although the firm and composed pose, the result of the rigor imparted by musical teaching, her gaze expresses an interior maturity that does not give way to self-satisfaction but appears at times shy and humble. The barely sketched smile reflects a typically adolescent candor and grace. In her hands she holds bow and violin: not simple accessories but instruments of emblematic value, the fulcrum of the existence and identity of the child prodigy. From a stylistic point of view, the work fits into the artist's mature phase, characterized by compositional balance and a subtle emotional and psychological investigation. The figure is idealized without losing physiognomic truth and is placed in a sober space that does not allow distractions and superfluous narrative elements. In Corcos, the oil paint is spread in a uniform and shiny way, giving the surface an almost enameled effect; the diffuse light models the volumes with softness, free of accentuated contrasts, which contribute to creating an intimate atmosphere suspended in time. The rendering of the material is treated with the same delicacy and attention to truth: the slightly wavy and fine hair falls gracefully on the shoulders, the silk of the dress creases in the folds and the shiny leather moccasins reverberate the light. The palette is dominated by cool and bright tones: the aqua green dress and bow, a shade much appreciated by the painter and often used in his most famous works, are even more highlighted by the use of a neutral and sophisticated background. Here the painter manages to combine formal elegance and psychological depth, restoring the image of a very young artist in the decisive moment of growth, suspended between childhood and adulthood. BIOGRAPHY Vittorio Matteo Corcos was born in Livorno on October 4, 1859, into a middle-class Jewish family. His father Isach was a merchant while his mother, Giuditta Baquis, came from a cultured background; Vittorio immediately demonstrated a strong aptitude for drawing, which his parents followed up on, allowing the young man to attend Giuseppe Baldini's lessons in his hometown. In 1875 he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence to continue his studies, also winning a silver medal for his merits. To complete his training, Corcos felt the need to follow Domenico Morelli's lesson; thus, thanks to a scholarship from the Municipality of Livorno, he moved to Naples, where he was admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts. The work Arab in Prayer (1880) dates back to this period, purchased by King Umberto I at the Promotrice Salvator Rosa and now in the collection of the Capodimonte Museum. After graduating in the autumn of 1880, he moved to Paris, where initially he got by painting fans and musical scores for the publisher Heugel. The fortuitous meeting with Giuseppe de Nittis allowed him to get in touch with the Maison Goupil, where he met Degas, Manet, Zola and the writer he most appreciated, Daudet. In the French city he studied with Léon Bonnat, learning the formal rigor and a high level of psychological rendering in the portrait. In 1881 he signed a fifteen-year contract with the merchant Adolphe Goupil, which decreed his international success. Five years later he returned to Italy and settled in Florence, where he met Emma Ciabatti, widow Rotigliano, a cultured and refined woman with a lively literary activity. The two married, forming a close couple both in private life and in the cultural world: Emma introduced Corcos to the Florentine literary salons, managing to consolidate his contacts with the intellectual environment of the time; over the years the two spouses hosted artists and writers such as Carducci, Pascoli and D'Annunzio in their home. Three children were born from their marriage. Among his most famous works we remember Dreams (1896), now at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome: a female portrait that expresses introspection and modernity, recurring elements in the artist's work. The model is Elena Vecchi, daughter of the writer and naval officer Augusto Vecchi, known by the pseudonym Jack La Bolina. Raised in a cultured and progressive environment, Elena represented for Corcos an ideal of modern and independent femininity. Their intense artistic and personal bond translates into a work that has become a symbol of the new woman of the Belle Époque: emancipated, thoughtful, aware of herself. The famous Ugo Ojetti commented on his poetics as follows: «Corcos does not paint women, but the idea that women have of themselves. He doesn't portray, he interprets.» He died in Florence on November 8, 1933, and his wife Emma followed him a few days later, on November 24 of the same year. Although most of his works are kept in private collections, it is possible to see some of his paintings at the Uffizi, the GAM in Florence, the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome and the Civic Museum of Livorno. Corcos' painting, so refined, ethereal and sensual, is today one of the most coveted among collectors. Texts by Anna Vocale Bibliography: Corcos. Dreams of the Belle Epoque, catalog of the exhibition in Padua (2014), edited by I. Taddei, F. mazzocca, C Sisi, Bano Foundation, Padua, 2014. Vittorio Corcos. The adventure of the gaze, catalog of the exhibition in Turin (2019-2020), edited by Carlo Sisi, Silvana Editoriale, Turin, 2019. Anne Urbancic, Staging Motherhood: Considering Annie Vivanti's Fact and Fiction in Italian Women Writers, 1800–2000: Boundaries, Borders, and Transgression, edited by in Patrizia Sambuco, Rowman & Littlefield, 2014, pg. 81-91. Emily E. Hogstad, The Devourer and the Devoured: The Intertwined Lives of Annie Vivanti and Vivien Chartres in Song of the Lark.