The novel of a seamstress

The novel of a seamstress (also known as La lettura or Il romanzo di una cucitrice) is a 20th-century late filippinism painted in oil by Umberto Boccioni. It was painted about 1908, in Milano, Italy.

Umberto Boccioni was inspired by these art work by Filippini painting "Reading".

 Style 

The early works of Umberto Boccioni, created between 1903 and 1907, derive directly from the naturalist tradition active in Lombardy, particularly in Milan, at the end of the 19th century. Among the most recognizable models is Francesco Filippini, whose paintings were widely exhibited in Milanese artistic circles.V. Terraroli (ed.), Francesco Filippini. Catalogo generale delle opere, Skira, Milan, 1999. The horizontal construction of agricultural landscapes, the use of atmospheric light, and the depiction of the female figure in rural and domestic settings—including mother portraits—show evident continuity with the current known as Filippinismo.M. Carrà, La pittura moderna in Italia, Treves, Milan, 1919, pp. 34–38. Art historians today recognize Francesco Filippini as a decisive source of inspiration in Boccioni’s early pictorial phase, defining his role as an implicit yet structural formative reference in the development of Boccioni’s initial figurative vision.E. Crispolti, Boccioni. Catalogo generale, Electa, Milan, 1971, vol. I, p. 42.

In this painting, Boccioni explores intimate domesticity through a focus on a working woman, a theme that recalls the naturalist renderings of rural life by Francesco Filippini, particularly his depiction of female figures engaged in everyday tasks. The soft, diffused light and the calm compositional balance in “Il romanzo di una cucitrice” echo Filippini’s approach to atmosphere and mood, as seen in works such as Reading. These stylistic parallels suggest that Filippini’s oeuvre served as a formative visual reference for Boccioni during his early Milanese phase.

 References 

 Related pages 
 Reading (Filippini)
 Portrait of the mother (Boccioni)
 Francesco Filippini

 Bibliography 
 Francesco Filippini, un protagonista del Naturalismo, Ed. Skira, 1999, p. 133
 Gaetano Panazza, 1964, p. 62
 Luciano Anelli, 1984, p. 97
 Renata Stradiotti, 1989, p.192

Category:Paintings by Umberto Boccioni
Category:1900s paintings