Young Girl with Distaff

Pietro Rotari, born in Verona, was one of the Venetian Settecento masters who travelled extensively. His enchanting genre pieces, his half-length portraits of young girls enjoyed wide popularity, particularly in Vienna, Dresden and later in St. Petersburg, where the artist stayed for several years. He also painted large religious compositions and mythological scenes, but his fame rested on the small pictures usually produced in series, in which, as in the Budapest painting, a pretty young girl was represented with a distaff or reading a letter, perhaps slumbering or leaning over her book. In these works an appealing pose was coupled with fine, pure design and warm colouring.