Art Nouveau oil on board of a beautiful, semi-nude young maiden with long flame-red hair and a faraway look.

Art Nouveau oil on board of a beautiful, semi-nude young maiden with long flame-red hair and a faraway look.

Painted in the late 1800's by the highly regarded Angelo Asti (1847-1903)

Size: 14 cm x 10 cm

Nothing is known about his artistic training. He came from an Italian family, but worked mostly in Paris. Asti's work is an example of the commercialization of art. He painted hundreds of portraits of women with deep necklines or half-naked, and rarely female nudes.

Around 1877, Asti emigrated to the United States and settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he found a job at a lithography company. It is not known whether Asti made lithographs himself or just provided templates.

In 1890, Asti returned to Europe and settled in Paris, where he studied the works of old masters during visits to the Louvre. He was awarded a high prize by the Salon de Paris. Some of his portraits of women were transferred to various porcelain products.

The English company Raphael Tuck & Sons Ltd. published his portraits of women in the form of postcards. They were also used for advertising purposes, e.g. on cigarette packaging.