VIRGINIO MONTI
Genzano di Roma, 1852 – Rome, 1942

Allegory of Parsimony

Oil on board, 22.2 x 33 cm
The work is signed by Virginio Monti who was appointed Official Painter of the Roman Church by Leone XIII. The artist was born in Genzano di Roma and his training began in his father's shop, then he continued to Monti's, also attended by Eugenio Cisterna, who later became his brother-in-law for having married his sister Emilia. Then he was entrusted to the painter Vincenzo Pasqualoni and when he was twenty, thanks to Alessandro Mantovani, he started to work in the renovations of the first floor of the raffaellesque loggias in the Vatican (1867-1870) and in the execution of new frescoes in the Ponente loggias(1870-1878). In 1875 he did some decorations inside the Roman church of S. Maria dell'Orto. His professional success took place between 1876 and 1879, when he won the contests for the decoration of some rooms in public buildings the capital city, including the building of the Ministry of Finance in XX Settembre street and the Post Office in S. Silvestro square. In 1901 he was admitted to the Academy of Virtues at the Pantheon.
This artwork is a study for a fresco and it is situated in the purist and nazarene current that recalled the academism of painters of the mid-nineteenth century and represents the Allegory of Parsimony as indicated on the first step.
Signed lower right: Virg. Monti