The Love Letter

The Love Letter is an oil-on-canvas genre painting by Luigi Crosio, signed and dated 1867. Crosio was a Turin-based academic painter who specialized in sentimental genre scenes, often set in 18th-century costume. His works were widely reproduced as prints, contributing to their popularity among a growing bourgeois audience. The painting belongs to a 19th-century tradition of romantic narrative art that depicts moments of courtship, letter-writing, and quiet emotional tension. These scenes were carefully staged to appeal to collectors interested in refined, nostalgic depictions of love and domestic life. Much of Crosio’s output, including this work, has remained in private collections rather than entering major public institutions.