FEMALE ACTOR'S VOICE]:
“I want to love you with all my heart and to place in you a confidence without reserve....”
NARRATOR:
Perhaps the young woman in this painting is considering writing words like these, from an 18th-century love letter. She pauses over her sheet of parchment, a quill in her hand and a faint smile on her face, as if musing on an absent lover. The subdued palette and smooth, sensitive brushwork set a mood of contemplation and melancholy, suggestive of quiet yearning.
Pietro Antonio Rotari specialized in portraits of beautiful young girls. A native of Northern Italy, he fell victim to the wanderlust that so many 18th-century Venetian painters shared. Rotari traveled as far as Germany, Poland and Russia, creating intimate portraits for illustrious members of the European nobility, including the Russian Empress Elizabeth. Patrons bought groups of his small genre portraits to display in their elegant homes.
Young Woman Writing a Letter
c. 1755-60
Pietro Antonio Rotari (Italian, 1707-1762)
Not on View
Pietro Rotari exemplified the type of highly successful, itinerant artist of the eighteenth century who traveled to wealthy patrons. He created many genre portraits, including images of pretty young girls smiling, frowning, dozing and casting coquettish glances.
Rotari's cool palette, smooth brushwork and graceful reserve made him one of the most pleasing artists of the eighteenth century. Viewing this young woman writing a love letter from close up, we are invited to experience the cozy sensation of her daydream, which is presumably about her paramour.
Details
- Artist Name: Pietro Antonio Rotari (Italian, 1707-1762)
- Title: Young Woman Writing a Letter
- Date: c. 1755-60
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 33-1/2 x 27-1/8 in. (85 x 68.9 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Art Foundation
- Accession Number: M.1979.18.P
- Copyright: © Norton Simon Art Foundation
Object Information
[Dr. Fritz Haussmann, Berlin, sold 31 October 1941 to];
[Schaeffer Galleries, New York, stock no. 638, sold 26 January 1942 to];
[Frederick (Fritz) A. Stern, Cosmos Art, Inc., New York, still in 1944];
Willem Kleinberg, New York, by 1945 (sale, New York, Sotheby's, 12 January 1979, lot 134, ill., as Portrait of a Young Girl Drawing, to);
[Paul Rosenberg & Co., New York; stock no. 6512-2802, offered 22 February 1979 and subsequently sold 15 March 1979 to];
Norton Simon Art Foundation.
[Schaeffer Galleries, New York, stock no. 638, sold 26 January 1942 to];
[Frederick (Fritz) A. Stern, Cosmos Art, Inc., New York, still in 1944];
Willem Kleinberg, New York, by 1945 (sale, New York, Sotheby's, 12 January 1979, lot 134, ill., as Portrait of a Young Girl Drawing, to);
[Paul Rosenberg & Co., New York; stock no. 6512-2802, offered 22 February 1979 and subsequently sold 15 March 1979 to];
Norton Simon Art Foundation.
Gems of Baroque Painting
- New York, Schaeffer Galleries, 1942-01-27 to 1942-02-28
[on loan]
- Phoenix, Phoenix Art Museum, 1979-06-18 to 1979-10
Serial Flirtations: Rotari's Muses
- Norton Simon Museum, 2017-03-03 to 2017-07-31
[on loan]
- Princeton University Art Museum, 1979-03-14 to 1979-06-17
Six Centuries of Portraiture from the Permanent Collection
- Norton Simon Museum, 1989-11-02 to 1990-12-16
The Expressive Body: Memory, Devotion, Desire (1400-1750)
- Norton Simon Museum, 2021-10-15 to 2022-03-07
- Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum, 1989, p. 108
- Maria Rosa Cutrufelli; Translated by Roula Zaromenou, La Donna Che Visse Per Un Sogno - Greek Edition, 2007, Cover
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 1591 p. 424
Additional Artwork by Artist
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