Adolphe Joseph Thomas Monticelli
1878
oil
panel
From the collection of Art Institute of Chicago
Mephisto from the Opera Faust is a 1878 oil by Adolphe Joseph Thomas Monticelli, a French Romanticism work, held at Art Institute of Chicago.
This painting shows Mephistopheles in a red robe, smirking at the viewer. His clawed hand points down, as if offering a deal. The background glows with eerie firelight. Monticelli loved bright colors and thick paint. He layered the colors so they almost glow from within. This trick makes the devil’s robe seem to pulse with heat. Check out the red robe’s folds. Then look up Adolphe Joseph Thomas Monticelli.
Mrs. Lillian Del Chicca (Mrs. Silvio Del Chicca), Chicago by 1981 [according to Richard Brettell’s letter to Mrs. Lillian Del Chicca, dated February 9, 1981, in curatorial file]; Sale, Sotheby’s, New York, May 27, 1982, lot 126, as Mephistopheles; Mr. and Mrs. Silvio Del Chicca; given to the Art Institute, 1984.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Adolphe Joseph Thomas Monticelli (October 14, 1824 – June 29, 1886) was a French painter of the generation preceding the Impressionists.
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