Artwork
A Girl with a Flower in Her Hair
A Girl with a Flower in Her Hair is an oil painting by the Rococo painting artist Pietro Rotari. It dates from 1761 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Technique & Style
4 cm in width, consistent with its classification as a small-scale portrait.
The painting is executed in oil on canvas, a standard support for 18th-century portraiture, and is handled and stored as a framed artwork within the National Gallery of Art's collection. Its formal qualities reflect Rotari's Rococo-influenced style, characterized by delicate brushwork and a focus on youthful subjects, though specific stylistic analysis is limited by the absence of dedicated scholarly commentary in the provided sources. The work measures 45.8 cm in height and 35.4 cm in width, consistent with its classification as a small-scale portrait.
History & Provenance
The work was created in 1761 by Pietro Rotari. It entered the Russian imperial circle when Empress Catherine II gave it to Prince Aleksandr Andreyevich Bezborodko, her secretary of petitions and later chancellor, who in turn passed it to Prince Viktor Pavlovich Kochubei, a diplomat and statesman.
In the early twentieth century the painting was in the Roman collection of Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi. The Samuel H. Kress Foundation purchased it from him on 29 July 1932; it entered the National Gallery of Art, Washington, as a gift in 1939, where it is held as part of the Samuel H. Kress Collection under accession number 1939.1.188.
Overview
Pietro Antonio Rotari, an Italian painter active in the mid‑18th century, executed the oil on canvas work titled A Girl with a Flower in Her Hair in 1761. The composition presents a young woman whose hair is softly gathered and accented by a single blossom, set against a darkened backdrop that emphasizes her serene expression.
Subject & Meaning
The figure is portrayed in a light‑toned dress with a dark ribbon at the throat, her hands resting calmly in her lap. The modest floral adornment and gentle pose reflect the Rococo taste for intimate, refined subjects, suggesting a moment of private contemplation rather than a formal portrait.
Own this work as a print
Artist & collection
Artist
Pietro Antonio Rotari (30 September 1707 – 31 August 1762) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period.
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