Footnotes

• Painted in 1904, the present lot was originally painted on the reverse of the portrait of Mme A. de Joss de Couchy (Cat. Res. no. 376)
  
  Provenance:
  Emilia Cardona Boldini, by 1931, according to an inscription on the reverse;
  Private collection.
  
  Literature:
  Ragghianti, "Boldini" Opera completa, (Milano, 1970) p. 119 cat. no. 377
  
  
  Giovanni Boldini (December 31, 1842 – July 11, 1931) was born in Ferrara, the son of the religious painter Antonio Boldini. At the age of twenty Boldini went to Florence to study, where he met the realist painters of the Macchiaioli. Their influence can be seen in Boldini's landscapes which show a direct response to nature and a painterly quality, although it is for his portraits that he became best known.
  After a year in London in 1871, Boldini moved to Paris, where he became a friend of Edgar Degas and the Impressionists. By the 1890’s he was the most fashionable portrait painter in the city, numbering Giuseppe Verdi and the Infanta Eulalia of Spain amongst his sitters. His dashing style suited the glitterati of Belle Epoque Paris, and set him slightly apart from the more controlled approach of his contemporaries, such as Heleu and Sargent. Painted in 1904 and possibly showing Mme A. de Joss de Couchy, ‘The Ball Gown’ is a typically vibrant small work. The sitter is surrounded by a swirl of material as she works on the dress and although the form is clear, the artist has painted at top speed to create an image which is both elegant, spontaneous and full of character.
  Boldini was nominated commissioner of the Italian section of the Paris Exposition in 1889, and received the Légion d'honneur for this appointment. He died in Paris in 1931.