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From an excerpt of the Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Contemporary Medals: The American Numismatic Society, March, 1910 (published by the American Numismatic Society, January 1, 1911): "Luigi de Feo (painter, sculptor, medalist) was born in southern Italy. At the age of 20, he was one of the most brilliant officers of the Dragoons of Savoy, and lived in Venice. He gave up the profession of arms, and devoted himself to painting in the town of Roncegno, in the Trentino. Subsequently, he went to Paris, and assayed the art of sculpture with such success that in 1907 two of his works were received at the Salon. There he became enamored of the works of Roty and Charpentier, and tried this form of art, to which he has now almost excluseively devoted himself. he drew his inspiration from the masters of the medallic art of the Renaissance. In 1909 he exhibited at the Ottava Internazionale at Venice, a bronze bust L'Adolescente, which attracted much attention. He has been called the "glorificator de la beaute feminine", and he has chosen as a subject especially fitted to his talent the beautiful women of the Italian aristocracy. He spends his winters in Paris, where he has a studio, and visits his second studio in Venice in the autumn. Address: Hotel Regina, Place de Rivoli, or (studio) rue Fontaine, Paris. (The material for this biographical sketch was drawn from Vita d'Arte, November, 1909, Siena; and the Smart Set, Revue du Monde Elegant, November, 1909, Palermo. In these two articles the theme is the artist's style, and the biographical details are few.)" From Apulia, de Feo was a painter, sculptor, and medalist active in Paris and Venice. He exhibited in Paris in 1907, Venice in 1909, and New York in 1910. Inspired by French relief sculpture, he is particularly noted for plaquette portraits of aristocratic women and children. See Forrer 7, p. 296; Thieme-Becker 11, p. 393. --- from The Molinari Collection, Andrea S. Norris and Ingrid Weber, Published by Bowdoin College, 1976