* Guardabassi L’Elemosina {1883} Loc? [WT]

Guardabassi, Guerrino (1841-93; Italian)
L’Elemosina
Watercolour, c.53.5 x 33 cm
Purchased, 1883; evidently de-accessioned later; last recorded at auction in Melbourne, Dec.2009
Present location unknown

[photo at right: work as auctioned in Melbourne, 2009]

This is one of five watercolours by Guardabassi bought in Melbourne in 1883, together with several views of Rome by Gigli.

This work (whose Italian title means “Charity”) is almost certainly identical with a Guardabassi watercolour auctioned by Leonard Joel in December 2009, showing a woman giving money to an old friar (reproduced here).

Of the other examples bought in 1883, only Guardabassi The Venetian Senator {1883} NGV [WT] remains in the collection.

Refs.           

AR 1883, p.33; NGV 1894, p.49 (II.Stawell Gallery, no.39; size given as 21 x 13 inches); not listed in NGV 1905 [£21] 

For the work auctioned in 2009, see http://www.artnet.com/artists/guerrino-guardabassi/past-auction-results and http://www.aasd.com.au/index.cfm/list-all-works/?concat=GuardabassiGuerr (Leonard Joel, Melbourne, Sunday art auction, 13 Dec.2009, lot 113; ill.as shown here; inscribed ‘G.Guardabassi Roma’ and titled on plaque; size given as 54.5 x 37 cm, or 21.5” x 14.6”; price estimated as $700-900; unsold)