Rosati Giulio

Biography of Rosati Giulio ( 1861-1917 )

Born in Rome into a family of bankers and military officers, Giulio Rosati broke with family tradition to become an artist. He studied at the Accademia di San Luca with de Querci and Podesti. Finding the teaching too conventional, the young artist decided to join the Roman studio of Spanish artist Luis Alavarez Catala, director of the Prado Museum in Madrid, where he met Aristide Sartorio, among others.

He initially painted classical subjects, but quickly turned to Oriental themes. He explored the Maghreb in particular, depicting its inhabitants with a vivid palette. Giulio Rosati successfully based his works on photographs, stories, engravings, clothing and objects brought back by his painter friends, such as Mariano Fortuny. Using this solid material, he created subtle, richly detailed scenes, such as “The Carpet Seller” and “The Harem Dance”.

Rosati was a key member of the Italian Orientalist movement alongside Ettore Simonetti, Giuseppe Aureli and Enrico Tarenghi. He developed a highly precise technique, partly inherited from Ludwig Deutsch and Jean-Léon Gérôme. Rosati was quickly recognised by his peers as one of the best Italian painters of his generation. His works are so meticulous and precise, and his colours so vivid, that they sometimes resemble colour photographs.

Giulio Rosati was one of the most important and prolific Italian Orientalist painters of the late 19th century. He painted in oils, but preferred watercolours, a technique he mastered perfectly. Although he rarely participated in official salons, Rosati enjoyed great success thanks to the craze for the Orient that gripped collectors in the last quarter of the 19th century. More and more American, British and French art collectors sought out his Orientalist subjects, which served as souvenirs of their exotic travels.