ROSI, Alessandro

Italian painter who trained with Cesare Dandini and was influenced by Pietro da Cortona. Little is know of his life and his artistic personality remained confused until the publication of the only full-length study of his oeuvre in 1994. Most of his works had previously, and erroneously, been given to Sigismondo Coccopani, a figure to whom now only a few documented works can be attributed.

Rosi appears to have been well aware of the trends in Florentine painting of his day, and worked as an apprentice in the studio of Cesare and Vincenzo Dandini. Examples of his works can be found in the Palazzo Rinuccini and the Uffizi. His fresco series of Allegories in the closed loggia of Palazzo Corsini are among Rosi’s most accomplished works, and as these are fully documented works, they have greatly aided in establishing an accepted group of works for this once elusive artist.

Cesare Dandini’s influence can be seen in the musculature, drapery and lighting of Rosi’s compositions. It is the artist’s blend of bold figures and painterly finish which found him in the favour of major Florentine patrons such as the Corsini and Rinuccini, as well as Cosimo III.