Graziella, from "Illustrated London News" Christmas Number
After Charles Edward Perugini British, born Italy
Not on view
This wood engraving after a painting by Perugini shows a beautiful woman in Renaissance dress standing before a column and wall decorated with Cosmatesque mosaics. Born in Naples, Perugini moved to England as a youth, then returned to Rome to train as an artist, moving on to Paris to study with Ary Scheffer. Frederic Leighton recognized his talent and encouraged him to return to London in 1863 where he pursued a successful career painting figures in historical settings, and married Kate, the daughter of Charles Dickens, in 1874. The print was republished in the French weekly newspaper "L'Illustration" on January 1, 1887.