Giovanni Boldini, 1842-1931) enjoyed a long and successful artistic career. He was born in Ferrara, Italy in 1842, and trained on the Italian Renaissance masters from childhood with his religious artist-father, Antonio Boldini.

He also studied under other accomplished artists, gaining a reputation even at that young age as an accomplished portrait painter. He then studied in Florence at the age of 20, at the Scuola del nudo (the School of Nudes), a subject he would return to only in old age.

Giovanni combined work and study for many years, training in Paris and London, and Holland and Germany. He moved to Paris but continued traveling for his work. He developed his own, distinct style, and his portraits...