Luigi Conconi (Italian, 1852-1917) Testa femminile (Female head) Oil on canvas 20 x 17-3/4 inches (50.8 x 45.1 cm) Signed and indistinctly dated: Conconi / 85 Property from the Dr. Sheldon G. and Irma H. Gilgore Collection of Italian Art 1850-1925 PROVENANCE: Capitani S.R.L., Milan, Italy; Acquired from the above, November 26, 1991. EXHIBITED: The Gilgore Collection, Naples, Florida, "The Winds of Change, The Milanese Avant-Garde 1860-1900," 2003, no. 43. LITERATURE: G. Ginex, "Luigi Conconi. Works in the Gilgore Collection," The Gilgore Collection, Winds of Change, The Milanese Avant-Garde 1860-1900, exh. cat., Naples, Florida, 2003, p. 119. Presented here, notable works by Luigi Conconi from the Dr. Sheldon G. and Irma H. Gilgore Collection of Italian Art trace the artist's career, establishing him as one of the most important members of the Milanese Scapigliatura. Conconi first trained as an architect at the Politecnico di Milano before turning to painting and printmaking in the early 1880s. Although he shifted away from his architectural practice, its impact remained fundamental, informing the spatial conception of his mature work, in which interiors and constructed settings function as evocative, often symbolically charged frameworks for figural and atmospheric effects. The artist moved within the same avant-garde circles as fellow Scapigliatura artists Tranquillo Cremona, his mentor, and Gaetano Previati (see lots 69063-5) , his close friend, developing a language marked by tonal dissolution, fluid handling of paint, and a deep interest in literary and psychological themes. Conconi's imagery frequently turns to nocturnal or meditative subjects, aligning his production with the broader Symbolist sensibility that emerged in Italy toward the end of the nineteenth century. Painted circa 1885, Testa femminile shows the influence of Cremona's technique, palette, and subject on Conconi's work (it also serves as an homage to the influential artist, who died in 1878), while remaining a personal interpretation of the Scapigliatura's visual vocabulary. The merging of subject and background through shifting color became one of Conconi's characteristic effects (Ginex, p. 119). HID12401132022 © 2026 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved www.HA.com/TexasAuctioneerLicenseNotice

The Gilgore Collection, Naples, Florida, "The Winds of Change, The Milanese Avant-Garde 1860-1900," 2003, no. 43.

Capitani S.R.L., Milan, Italy; Acquired by the present owner from the above, November 26, 1991.

Unlined canvas. Pinpoint losses to area of high impasto in upper right corner; additional tiny loss below figure's neck.
Under UV: varnish fluoresces green.
Framed Dimensions 25.25 X 23.125 Inches