29. Icon on Glass, "The Ascension of the Holy Prophet Elijah and scenes from his life", Prodan family workshop, probably painted by Petru Prodan, Maieri, Alba Iulia, ca. 1850-1880, from the collection of the runner-up world bridge champion Coriolan Neamțu, rare piece

Dimensions

width 38 cm, height 43.5 cm

Description

tempera and gold foil on glaze, stained frame with force

PROVENANCE

Coriolan Neamțu was born in 1925, in Satu-Mare, in a family of Transylvanian intellectuals. He was a graduate of the Law Faculty and the Academy of High Commercial and Industrial Studies in Bucharest. His particular interest in the game of bridge allowed him to overcome professional dissatisfactions, inherent to the communist regime, and to devote himself passionately to bridge. He was an active promoter and organizer of the game of bridge in Romania, a tournament director and a bridge teacher. Between 1970-1983 (when bridge was officially banned in Romania), Coriolan Neamțu wrote and edited the magazine "Expert Bridge", printed and distributed in hundreds of copies in a quasi-clandestine manner. A journalist by profession, having a column in domestic magazines and newspapers and frequent contributions to prestigious foreign magazines, he wrote several works of bridge literature: "Competitional Bridge" (1973), "Entertaining Bridge" (1982), "Start Bridge" (1990), "Humorous Bridge" (1991) and "Bridge Conventions" (1991). Also a great animal lover, the author published a book in 1979 called "The Dog, Man's Friend", which was a great success at the time of its publication. In 2000, he published a volume of maxims and reflections "Restitutio in absurdum". He was a member of the Jockey Club Romania, the International Association of Bridge Journalists, the world vice-champion of the IBPA bridge in 1992 in Salsomaggiore and the editor of the bridge column in the magazine "Free Time", the weekly supplement of the "Free Romania" newspaper.