Baldi (Italian, 20th C.-) was purportedly one of the better known older Italian portrait painters known to have been the first to discover and paint the old pipe-smoking men of Capri, Italy, which later became the 'landmark painting model' and inspiration for many Italian and visiting artists. Baldi also made several other Italian characters famous by painting them in their colorful and native peasant clothing styles, and he was known to have lived among the people he painted. Additionally, Baldi’s artwork was represented by the well-known listed Italian painter & art dealer, Mario Mariani (Italian, 1907- ), out of his art studio/gallery in Naples, Italy, where he represented not only his own work, but that of his two sons V. Mariani (Italian, 20th C.-) & G. Mariani (Italian, 20th C.-) who are also accomplished artists, as well as other represented artists. Walter Meibohm knew Mario personally and they were friends, and he dealt with him regularly and his two sons on his yearly art-buying trips to Europe.
(Written by Mark Strong of Meibohm Fine Arts, Inc., meibohmfinearts.com from sources: Our internal records.)