Always drawn to antiquity, Paolo Rotili attended the workshop of a talented Umbrian restorer aged fifteen, from whom he learnt the tools of the trade. He opened his very first business as a restorer and antiques dealer in Orvieto and subsequently decided to move up north to broaden his work experience, searching for works of art that fully reflected his great passion. At the end of 2005 he met Anna Maria Cucci, a former colleague who then became his companion; Anna is an art historian who graduated in History of Art at the DAMS University in Bologna, in Humanities at Urbino University, where she completed a dissertation on “Raphael and istoriato majolica”, followed by a third degree in Classical Archeology in 2012. Anna and Paolo immediately started working in the family shop in Rimini’s old town (currently Piazza Tre Martiri, formerly Antico Foro Romano). The acumen and talent of the two dealers, along with thorough studies and research, with the help of the most eminent scholars, led to numerous discoveries. A case in point is the recent large painting by J.H.W. Tischbein depicting “Oxyartes offering his daughter Roxana in marriage to Alexander the Great”, executed by the artist during his first Roman stay, bought from the Casa di Goethe museum in Rome in September 2020.
Questo finissimo dipinto è un notevole auto- grafo di Mariano Rossi ed è tipico della sua produzione in piccolo formato, contraddistin- ta da una esecuzione rapida e veloce molto vicina a quella di un bozzetto o di un lavoro preparatorio per una pala o, comunque, per un dipinto di maggiori dimensioni.
Bibliography: “Ceramiche varie” 1984, p. 38, n. 10; Giuliana Gardelli, in “Valori Tattili” 2010, pp. 5-7; Skulpturen & Kunsthandwerk 2013, pp. 110-111; Claudio Paolinelli, “Lacrime di smalto.Plastiche maiolicate tra Marche e Romagna nell’età del Rinascimento”, 2014, pp. 108-109.
Provenance: Sotheby’s New York, sale 14/10/1998. Bibliography: Zsuzsanna Dobos, “Additions to the Art and Research of Girolamo Troppa”, in “Bulletin du Musée Hongrois des Beaux-Arts”, 106-107,2006, pp.115-130, in particular p.120, fig.5.
Provenance: private collection. Bibliography: unpublished.