Aurelia

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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Aurelia Ciommi was a favourite model for Mancini in Rome, posing for some 25 paintings. Her nickname was La Cornacchia (The Crow), expressive of her sharp and animated features. Here, she seems to reveal for our delectation an austere and elegant Renaissance portrait bust of a woman in white marble in which she takes evident delight. Mancini’s studio was full of such props. While the features of model and bust are relatively thinly painted, the surface of the canvas, teeming with flowers, is richly painted in thick globs of pigment. Contemporary collectors found such abstract paint handling to be thrillingly modern. Another portrait of 'the Crow' has been left unfinished on the reverse of the canvas; there, tearing at her blouse, she seems to be having a fit of intense emotion worthy of a tragic actress.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

Aurelia

Date

about 1906

Medium

Oil on canvas

Measurements

H 94 x W 59.7 cm

Accession number

NG3258

Acquisition method

Sir Hugh Lane Bequest, 1917

Work type

Painting

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The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

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