Pietro Rotari (Italian, 1707-1762) --- --- Young Woman with a Fan c. 1754-56
Rotari worked in Italy before leaving for the courts of Dresden and St. Petersburg. In Dresden he began to specialize in fanciful “character heads” of young women. This is an early and elaborate example: she seems unguarded, at ease, yet conscious of her observer. Rotari returned repeatedly to the same formula, exploring the variety possible in his limited subject matter: some figures are caught in mid-action; some pose coquettishly; most return our gaze, a few affect indifference. His male patrons appreciated the calculated mix of intimacy and artifice in such pictures.
Pietro Rotari (Italian, 1707-1762) --- --- Young Woman with a Fan c. 1754-56
Rotari worked in Italy before leaving for the courts of Dresden and St. Petersburg. In Dresden he began to specialize in fanciful “character heads” of young women. This is an early and elaborate example: she seems unguarded, at ease, yet conscious of her observer. Rotari returned repeatedly to the same formula, exploring the variety possible in his limited subject matter: some figures are caught in mid-action; some pose coquettishly; most return our gaze, a few affect indifference. His male patrons appreciated the calculated mix of intimacy and artifice in such pictures.