Footnotes

Provenance
Mrs. Malouf, New York.
Graham Gallery, New York.
Gerald Peters Gallery, New York, 1999.
Sale, Christie's, New York, March 3, 2005, lot 152.
Spanierman Gallery, New York, by 2007.
Acquired by the present owner from the above.

Exhibited
New York, National Academy of Design, 116th Annual, April 8-May 16, 1942, p. 23, no. 109.
New York, Associated American Artists Galleries, Luigi Lucioni, April 12-30, 1943, n.p., no. 2.
New York, Gerald Peters Gallery, Luigi Lucioni (1900-1988), Still Lifes, Landscapes and Figures, April 15-May 15, 1999.
Palm Beach International Fine Art & Antique Fair, 2007.
Middlebury, Vermont, Middlebury College Museum of Art, Pastoral Vermont: The Paintings and Etchings of Luigi Lucioni, May 21-August 9, 2009, pp. 23-24, 43, no. 49, fig. 30, illustrated.

Literature
"The Academy's First Annual on the Avenue: The Sky's No Longer the Limit in the Landscapes, Best Paintings in the N.A.'s 116th Yearly Exhibition," Art News, New York, April 15, 1942, vol. 41, iss. 5, p. 33.
Artisti Americani de originie Italiana, 1944, United States of America, n.p., illustrated.
P.H. Falk, A.A. Bien, eds., The Annual Exhibition Record of the National Academy of Design: 1901-1950, Madison, Connecticut, 1990, p. 335, no. 109.
S.P. Embury, The Art and Life of Luigi Lucioni: A Contribution Towards a Catalogue Raisonné, Holdrege, Nebraska, 2006, pp. 163, 179, 262, no. 42.21, illustrated. (as Portrait of Mili Monti)
"Palm Beach International Fine Art & Antique Fair," Antiques and the Arts Weekly, New York, March 6, 2007, n.p., illustrated.

Carolina Francesca Giuseppina Mignone (1905-1980) was an Italian international diseuse, heralded for her performances on the stage and screen. Her fans knew her by a variety of stage names throughout her career including Milly, Milli, and the title of the current portrait by Luigi Lucioni, Mili Monti. Born into a modest family in Alessandria, Italy, she gained a reputation for her voice. As a teenager, she was hired to perform as a soubrette at the Iris Theater in Italy, where she adopted the stage name "Milly." Milly would use her connections and popularity to forge a trio comprised of her two siblings, Ottone Giuseppe "Totò" Mignone (1906-1993) and Mity (née Mignone) Mattòli, which received rave reviews. Milly continued to perform independently at various theater productions throughout Italy following the disbandment of the trio in 1928, eventually moving to Paris for a year. While singing cabaret in Paris, an executive at the Rainbow Room offered her a seven-day contract following her performance to perform in New York.

Monti set sail for the United States in November 1936 on the SS Conte de Savoia where she made her international debut in America on Armistice night. She was an immediate hit, and took the country by storm, with demand calling for her to travel to Detroit, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, and Memphis. Her popularity in America skyrocketed to celebrity status in 1939, following roles in films such as The Girl from Scotland Yard (1937), On Such a Night (1937) and Seventh Heaven (1937). Monti made a professional decision to stay in America due to the outbreak of World War II, and would return to Italy once the war was over.

During her time in the United States, Monti engaged in a relationship with Louisa d'Andelot Carpenter (1907-1976), a du Pont family heiress, socialite and aviator. The pair split time between the du Pont family estate in Wilmington, Delaware and a villa in Santa Monica. In 1940, Carpenter financed the play, The Little Dog Laughed, which starred Monti and received mixed reviews. Monti significantly limited her professional engagements following her departure from Little Dog and reduced her engagements in the spotlight.

Luigi Lucioni is best known for his portraits and still lifes, especially his portraits of singers and performers. In 1932, he taught portraiture at the Art Students League, even though he personally did not enjoy the politics of portraiture. Mili Monti marks a transitional period in Lucioni's oeuvre, as the artist moved away from portraits to concentrate mainly on his charming Vermont landscapes. In the present portrait, Lucioni chose to portray Monti in one of her luscious black gowns, cross legged, with the folds of the dress mirroring the velvet drapery in the background. Her arresting gaze and matching lipstick and nails illustrate the painstaking curation inherent in the piece. One critic at the National Academy of Design likened the work to the "a mannerist Bronzino of the moment..." (Art News, New York, vol. 41, issue 5, April 15, 1942, p. 33) Thus, further memorializing Monti in another artform aside from the stage and screen.