ATTRIBUTED TO PIETRO ANTONIO ROTARI | PORTRAIT OF A GIRL, BUST LENGTH, WEARING A FUR HAT

Purchased by the owner in Sweden, circa 2016.

In 1756 the Italian Baroque artist, Pietro Rotari, moved to Saint Petersburg to paint for the court at the invitation of Elizabeth Petrovna, Empress of Russia. The artist remained in Russian until 1762, where he distinguished himself as a highly sought-after portraitist and even opened a private art school called the Accademia del Nord  (1). During this period, Rotari painted a group of portraits depicting young Russian ladies in fur hats coyly hiding their smiles behind a muff. This composition is identical to another portrait by Rotari, last known to be in a private collection, Verona (2).

1. M. Palazzo, Pietro Rotari: pittore veronese del settecento (1707-1762), Verona 1990, p. 13.

2. Ibid, pp. 70-71, cat. no. 116.