''Gioventù'' (''Youth'') is a painting by the

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

and

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

Eliseu Visconti Eliseu Visconti, born Eliseo d'Angelo Visconti (30 July 1866, Giffoni Valle Piana, ItalyEliseu V ...

. Visconti was educated in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and influenced by

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

and

Symbolism Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: Arts * Symbolism (arts), a 19th-century movement rejecting Realism ** Symbolist movement in Romania, symbolist literature and visual arts in Romania during the late 19th and early 20th centuries ** Russian sy ...

. His work was to some extent a modern interpretation of these tendencies he got acquainted to in Paris. Visconti drew ''Gioventù'' in

in 1898. This artwork was painted in oil on a canvas; it measures 65 x 49 cm and is on display at the Rio de Janeiro National Museum of Art.Projeto Eliseu Visconti, catalogue Raisonné, P327 – Gioventù, page visited in March 5, 2019.
/ref> The work was first exhibited at the Salon de la Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, in 1899, under the title ''Melancolie''. Still with that title, it conquered the silver medal in the Exposition Universelle of 1900, in

A hidden painting

Gioventù e o estudo para Recompensa de São Sebastião descoberto sob a pintura

A portable device, which works by

X-ray An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...

fluorescence, allowed for an important revelation after being used in the ''Gioventú'' frame. Concealed under the young woman portrayed, a study was found for another screen by Visconti entitled ''Recompensa de São Sebastião'' (''Reward of Saint Sebastian''). The equipment that allowed this intriguing discovery was developed by the Brazilian researcher Cristiane Calza, during her doctorate, completed in 2007 at the

Federal University of Rio de Janeiro The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro or University of Brazil (UFRJ; pt, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro or ') is a public research university located in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the largest federal university in the ...

. The system is able to identify the time when a painting was painted, the composition of colors used by the artist, the existence of later touches and even falsifications. ''Recompensa de São Sebastião'', as well as ''Gioventù'', was awarded an international exhibition, receiving the gold medal at the

Universal Exposition at Saint Louis The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an World's fair, international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federal funds tota ...

,DezenoveVinte – Arte no Brasil do Século XIX e Início do XX – ''Cronologia de Eliseu Visconti''
/ref> in the United States, in 1904. In X-ray images, the angel crowning laurels the San Sebastian tied to a tree appears even more clearly than the girl of ''Gioventù''. The painter seems to have changed his mind after the study because, instead of laurels, in the finished picture the angel puts a halo on the saint's head.

References

Bibliography * "Revista Moderna": Magazine Litterario e Artistico. Paris, Anno III, nº 30, p. 238–242, abr. 1899. * Catalogue. "Acervo MNBA – Collection Museum of Fine Arts". São Paulo: Banco Santos, 2002, p. 50, 86–89, 121, 130, 131. * Catalogue. "Brazil Body & Soul". Nelson Aguilar, Emanoel Araujo, et al., curadoria. New York: Guggenheim Museum Publications/ Edward J. Sullivan, 2002, p. 15, 16. * Catalogue. "Eliseu Visconti: A modernidade antecipada". Mirian N. Seraphim, Rafael Cardoso e Tobias S. Visconti, curadoria. Recife: Instituto Ridardo Brennand, de ago. a nov. 2014. * Catalogue. "Exposição Retrospectiva de Visconti. II Bienal do Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo". São Paulo: Estúdio Gráfico Brasil, 1954. * Sonia Gomes PEREIRA. "Arte Brasileira no século XIX". Belo Horizonte: C/Arte, 2008. (Coleção Didática – Historiando a Arte Brasileira). * WALTON, W.; SAGLIO, A. & CHAMPIER, V. Chefs-d’Oeuvres of the Exposition Universelle. Vol. VI. Philadelphia: George Barrie & Son, 1900, p. 81, 82, 92.

External links

Eliseu Visconti – GIOVENTÚ, LuDia.

Um novo olhar sobre a obra de Eliseu Visconto, Revista de História e Estudos Culturasi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gioventù 1898 paintings Paintings by Eliseu Visconti Brazilian paintings