MARIANO ROSSI | The assassination of Julius Caesar

oil on canvas

The canvas is lined. The image reads well beneath a clear varnish and retains good detail in areas, particularly in the white drapery of the standing figure at right and in the drapery of the figures at left. Inspection under UV reveals some isolated spots of retouching scattered here and there, for example, in the costume and area near the center of the figure in red, in the shadows of figures at left and lower left foreground, and in the shadows and darks between the groups of figures to the right of center. UV also reveals some isolated spots of retouching to the architecture in the background, some of which has faintly discolored to the naked eye, for example above the figures at center. There is a thin horizontal line of filled repair at upper right in the background. Offered in a decoratively carved wood frame with some nicks and losses.
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Although little is known of the life of the Sicilian born Mariano Rossi, he is perhaps most well known today for his monumental fresco for the ceiling of large Salon in the the Borghese Gallery, Rome, which depicts the depicting the Roman hero Marcus Furius Camillus and which he completed around 1775-1779.¹   The exuberance and energy found in such large frescoes and canvases can be found echoed also in his smaller scale paintings, such as the present work.  Another painting by Rossi of comparable dimensions and handling was sold at Sotheby's, London, 11 December 1996, lot 242. 1.  For additional comparative works by the artist see G. Sestieri, 'Repertorio della pittura Romana della fine del seicento e del settecento,' Turin 1994, vol. III, plates 1000-1006.