GASTALDI, ANDREA (1826-1889)

"Signora In Attesa" (c.1870) 
oil on panel
26 x 19cm
signed lower right
*private collection, Sydney
 
Gastaldi was a by prominent 19th Century Italian Painter. He studied at the Accademia Albertina under Michele Cusa, Giovan Battista Biscarra, and Carlo Arienti. He then traveled to Florence and Rome during 1850–1851 and 1853–1859; and spent some time in Paris studying in the studio of the history painter Thomas Couture. He met also Paul Delaroche. In 1860 at the Promotrice of Turin, with the painting of Pietro Micca, he won the institute award funded by the Marchese Di Breme, and was nominated to be professor of painting at the Albertina. Gastaldi's wife, Léonie Lescuyer-Gastaldi, was also a painter, who had trained with Rosa Bonheur. Gastaldi's brother Lorenzo was the archbishop of Turin from 1871 to 1883. Among Gastaldi's pupils were Giovan Battista Carpanetto, Giacomo Gandi, Michelangelo Merano, and Giacomo Grosso.