Bronze Age Gold from Wales

Mancini trained in Naples and visited Paris in 1875-76 and 1877-78. In 1883 he settled in Rome. With Sargent's help he achieved a considerable reputation in Britain. His figure paintings were influenced by seventeenth-century Old Masters. They include glittering light effects and incorporate thick impasto, sometimes textured with metal foil, string and other materials. This genre piece depicts an old man with a pipe at a table, on which are an ape, a parrot and other animals. It was purchased by Margaret Davies in 1914.