“The Presentation”, Rome, 1897. Oil on canvas. Signed, dated and located in the lower right corner. 22 x 33.5 in.
Salvatore Frangiamore presents us with a virtuoso scene contextualized in a palatial interior decorated, mainly, by a stone fireplace of Renaissance style, a rich war tapestry on the wall and a curtain that acts as a backdrop. Next to a table dressed with food, several figures are placed around a prelate, with a lady presenting her daughter to this distinguished personage, under the attentive gaze of the rest of the spectators. The work is notable for its detail and for the magnificent depiction of the richly embroidered and delicately woven costumes.
Born into a family of modest means, Salvatore Frangiamore showed a marked aptitude for drawing at an early age, thus attracting the curiosity of many people in his native country, in particular that of the then mayor Giuseppe Giudici, a future member of the Kingdom’s Parliament and brother of the well-known scholar Paolo Emiliani Giudici. In 1883 he took part in the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in Rome, the inaugural exhibition at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome, exhibiting “A Summer Storm”.
Among his most successful works were his portraits (in addition to those of King Umberto I and Queen Margherita, we remember those of the Honorable Giuseppe Giudici, of Paolo Emiliani Giudici, of Baroness Costanza Moncada Mistretta, the barons Vincenzo and Salvatore Mistretta, the gentleman Vincenzo Sorce Malaspina, his sister Luigina (pencil drawing), the ministers Michele Amari and Nicolò Gallo, Professor Francesco Durante. He also excelled as a genre painter of paintings set in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, with works such as “Lucia and the Unnamed”, “The Chess Game” and “The Cardinal’s Visit”.
He is currently represented in the National Gallery in London, as well as in numerous private collections throughout Europe.
