A Tribute to the Female Figure in Art from the 19th to the 20th Century: Molteni, Zandomeneghi and Foujita.
On 15 December 2025, in the 19th and 20th century Paintings and Sculptures auction, Il Ponte Casa d’Aste offers a captivating journey through over a century of art history, where the female figure becomes a privileged lens for exploring the evolution of pictorial languages from the 19th to the 20th century.
The first stop on this journey is an unpublished “Ritratto di donna alla finestra che innaffia dei vasi di fiori” by Giuseppe Molteni (lot 98, €20,000 - 25,000), co-protagonist of Milanese Romanticism alongside Hayez. Molteni captures the young girl engaged in a simple daily action, transforming it into a suspended moment: her gaze, veiled with sensuality and introspection, seems directed at someone beyond the window, while the painting - of astonishing technical precision and attention to detail - shapes her features with a realism that combines formal elegance and keen physiognomic insight, giving the female face a rare and intense psychological depth.
Lot 98
Giuseppe Molteni (Affori 1800 - Milano 1867) "Donna alla finestra che annaffia dei vasi di fiori", oil on canvas (cm 125x100).
Estimate: € 20.000 - 25.000
The second stop is “Il sogno” by Federico Zandomeneghi (lot 99, €25,000 - 30,000): a portrait that fully captures the everyday life and intimacy of a young girl absorbed between wakefulness and sleep. Here, the female figure dominates the scene, immersed in dense, vibrant colour that gently fades into an almost dissolving background. The portrait of the young woman and her dreamlike surrender are conveyed not through meticulous realism but through the abandonment of form and the dissolution of colour itself.
Lot 99
Federico Zandomeneghi (Venezia 1841 - Parigi 1917) "Il sogno", oil on canvas (cm 45x55).
Estimate: € 25.000 - 30.000
The third stop brings us to the style of Japanese artist Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita, whose portrait of Madeleine (lot 101, €18,000 - 20,000) is reduced to essential, clear, and minimal lines, yet capable of capturing the full intensity of the subject. With a remarkable economy of means, Foujita transforms the face into a story and a suggestion, demonstrating how the simplicity of the line can reveal a psychological depth that is equally powerful and fascinating.
Lot 101
Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita (Tokyo 1886 - Zurigo 1968) "Portrait de Madeleine" 1933, mixed media on paper (cm 46x35).
Estimate: € 18.000 - 20.000
The journey is enriched with many other highlights, including the important painting by Carlo Bossoli, “Napoleone e il suo esercito davanti all’incendio di Mosca” (lot 100, €45,000 - 50,000). Chronologically linked to the early 19th century but distant in style, Bossoli, a self-taught virtuoso of tempera, constructs a scene of great narrative intensity. His landscapes, celebrated for their expressive impact and almost theatrical precision, made him one of the most sought-after artists among the European aristocratic audience: from the House of Savoy to Queen Victoria of England, and even Empress Eugénie of France.
Lot 100
Carlo Bossoli (Lugano 1815 - Torino 1884) "Napoleone e il suo esercito davanti all'incendio di Mosca" oil on canvas (cm 50x70).
Estimate: € 45.000 - 50.000
----------