Charles Edward Perugini

(British, 1839-1918)

Crossing a torrent

Footnotes

Provenance
With Gomsall Gallery, Surrey.
Private collection, UK, purchased from the above in 1966.

Exhibited
London, Royal Academy, 1887, no. 443.
Dunedin, New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition, 1889-90, room 2, no. 23.

Literature
H. Blackburn, Academy Notes, 1887, p. 76, illustrated.

Born on 1st September 1839 in Naples, Carlo Perugini spent his childhood in England and later became a British citizen. It is noted that when Perugini was about eleven his drawings were shown to Horace Vernet. Impressed by these early works, Vernet recommended that he should study in Rome where it is said he trained under Giuseppe Bonelis and Giuseppe Mancinelli.¹ It was also in Rome that he first met Frederic Lord Leighton who would have an enduring impact on the young artist's life and work. The two were then reunited in Paris, where Perugini worked under Ary Scheffer and at which time Leighton painted Perugini's portrait (sold in these rooms 14 November 2006, lot 211).

It was also Leighton who encouraged Perugini to settle in London where he became one of a number of young aspiring artists whom Leighton took under his wing, helping him both financially and by giving encouragement. He worked as a portraitist but tended to specialise in genre scenes, especially of elegant ladies in a romantic setting, whilst his interest in antiquity and allusions to the classical world reflected the style and subjects of his mentor. "Elegance, purity, and correctness of draughtsmanship, perfect refinement and dignity, grace and charm, delicacy in colour, and tenderness of harmonious line – these are the qualities of his academic art..." so wrote the biographer of his obituary.² Perugini would also be introduced to his wife, Kate, the second daughter of Charles Dickens, at Leighton's home.

Perugini began to make a name for himself at the annual exhibitions. From 1863 up until 1914 he showed some fifty works at the Royal Academy; others were exhibited at the New and Grosvenor Galleries, the Royal Society of British Artists, the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and other London venues. Perugini also exhibited in provinces, notably at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool and to a lesser extent in Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow.

In 1860 Perugini joined the Artist's Rifle Corps, where he served for twelve years. Other members included Leighton, Val Prinsep (whom Kate had once been in love with), J. E. Millais, Fred Walker and G.F. Watts (honorary member only), who in addition to their duties enjoyed a fine social life. He and Kate's circle of friends embraced many other leading artists including Alma-Tadema and literary figures but Millais, who often advised both Kate and Carlo on their art and also loved playing cards with the latter, appears to have been Perugini's closest friend.


¹The Times, 23rd December 1918, p. 6. Carlo Perugini obituary.
²The Times, op. cit.