Born in New York to an Italian father and American mother, Fabbri was a painter and one of the first collectors to purchase the works of Cezanne through the Parisian dealer Ambrose Vollard (1868-1939). When Egisto's father died around 1883, his uncle, a wealthy economist and mathematician after whom he was named, adopted the young Egisto, his two brothers, and five sisters, and helped their mother raise them. The family eventually moved to Florence. Young Egisto, having studied painting in the United States with J. Alden Weir, subsequently moved to Paris. Fabbri bought his first Cezanne paintings shortly after the opening of the artist's first show at Vollard's in November 1895. Fabbri purchased works by other artists, including Daumier, Degas, and Forain, but continued to concentrate on Cezanne, eventually owning almost thirty paintings by him. In 1926 Fabbri decided to sell the major part of his collection, mainly for financial reasons, to the Parisian dealer Paul Rosenberg.
Bibliography
1920
"Cézanne della Raccolta Fabbri", Dedalo 1 (June 1920):53-70
1937
La Farge, Mabel. Egisto Fabbri. Privately printed, New Haven, 1937
1978
Monneret, Sophie, L'Impressionnisme et son Époque 4 vols. Paris, 1978-1981:I:203
1989
Rewald, John. Cezanne and America. Princeton, 1989:24+
1995
Cezanne. Exh. cat. Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 1995:572