Bildnis Don Domenicho. 1924.
Oil on cardboard.
Signed in lower right. Verso signed, dated and titled "Don Domenicho". 53.6 x 42 cm (21.1 x 16.5 in).
The work was overpainted in the background on recto by a hand other than that of the artist, affecting the coat, the chin and the hair. The pictutre's original character would benefit from a professional removal of the overpainted layer.
Verso with a portrait study of an old woman (presumably the artist's mother).
• Carlo Mense under the influence of the Pittura metafisica.
• New Objectivity portrait with a striking presence.
• Portraits are the highlight of the artist's creation in the 1920s
• Part of the exhibition "Magic Realism. Art in Weimar Germany 1919-1933", at Tate Modern in London in 2018/19.

This work's authenticity has kindly been confirmed orally by Dr. Drenker-Nagels.

PROVENANCE: Collection Vera Mense, Honnef (1969)
Private collection Southern Germany
Private collection (since 2009).

EXHIBITION: Neue Sachlichkeit, Städtische Kunsthalle Mannheim, June 14 - September 13,1925, Cat.No. 66.
Magic Realism. Art in Weimar Germany 1919-33, Tate Modern, London, July 30, 2018 - July 14, 2019.

LITERATURE: Wieland Schmied. Neue Sachlichkeit und Magischer Realismus in Deutschland 1918-1933, illu. 51.
Magic Realism. Art in Weimar Germany 1919-33, Tate Modern, London, July 30, 2018 - July 14, 2019. P.109, illu. on p. 63.