Ritratto di Anna Maria de Lisi 1918

Felice Casorati rendered this arresting portrait of Anna Maria de Lisi in paint, sometime around 1918. Look closely, and you'll see that Casorati has used oil paint in a manner reminiscent of fresco, an ancient technique used for murals. Typically, fresco involves pigment being applied to wet plaster, and the result is matte, quite unlike the glossy surface we often associate with oil painting. The artist has also arranged the figure in an architectural setting, which has the simplified quality of stagecraft. The columns and blocks are roughly painted, and not highly finished. He seems to be interested in the interplay between figuration and abstraction, the human and the built environment. In its deliberate construction, and its unsettling, dreamlike quality, this painting rejects the easy virtuosity of other early twentieth-century portraiture. It asks us to consider the work that goes into making an image, and the way that simple materials can be combined to complex effect. The artist here challenges traditional notions of both 'good' painting and 'good' likeness.