Lot Details
Description
Property from the Najd Collection
GIULIO ROSATI
Italian
1858 - 1917
The Favourite
signed and inscribed G. Rosati / -ROMA- lower left
oil on canvas
61 by 101cm., 24 by 39½in.
Condition Report
The canvas is lined and is securely attached to a keyed wooden stretcher which is providing a stable support.
The paint surface is stable.
Inspection under ultra-violet light reveals areas of fluorescence due to old residual varnish. Some small, scattered areas of cosmetic retouching are visible, notably in the far upper right and lower right corners respectively. Clusters of retouching are also visible in the ground along the left-hand side of the lower framing edge. The main figures appear to be virtually untouched.
This works is in good and stable condition and is ready to hang.
Presented in a decorative gilt frame with a nameplate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Saleroom Notice
Cataloguing
Provenance
Mathaf Gallery, London
Purchased from the above
Literature
Lynne Thornton, Women as Portrayed in Orientalist Painting, Paris, 1985, p. 185, cited & illustrated
Philip Hook and Mark Poltimore, Popular 19th Century Painting, A Dictionary of European Genre Painters, Suffolk, 1986, p. 358, catalogued & illustrated
Caroline Juler, Najd Collection of Orientalist Paintings, London, 1991, p. 210a, catalogued & illustrated
Lynne Thornton, Women as Portrayed in Orientalist Painting, Paris, 1994, p. 168, cited & illustrated
Catalogue Note
While Rosati's Orientalist compositions owed much to his imagination (here he conjures up a scene of envoys of the Sultan singling out new female recruits to the Harem), the actual interiors and props are masterfully observed in minute detail.
Here, against a backdrop that could be the Alhambra, it is the veritable emporium of rugs and carpets that captivates the viewer. Hanging between the columns, from left to right, can be seen an Oushak 'Medallion' carpet, West Anatolia, 16th/17th century; a Kirshehir prayer rug, Central Anatolia; and a North African/Berber rug. The two figures on the right sit on a Southwest Caucasian, possibly Gendje, carpet; in the right foreground is a Mudjur prayer rug, Central Anatolia; while the three central figures stand on an Oushak 'double-niche' small medallion rug, with cloudband border.
Rosati trained at the Accademia di San Luca before joining the studio of the popular Spanish history and genre painter Luis Alvarez Catalá in Rome. Catalá belonged to the colony of Spanish painters in Rome, led by Mariano Fortuny, whose Orientalist works met with great critical acclaim in Rome in the 1860s and which would have been an inspiration to aspiring Italian Orientalists like Rosati.
