Il Cancello oil on canvas by Ottone Rosai
The Egidi MadeinItaly product catalog includes a painting by Florentine artist Ottone Rosai.
“The third great 20th-century Italian painter along with Giorgio de Chirico and Giorgio Morandi.” Professor Sgarbi
His work Il Cancello (The Gate) is a perfect example of figurative art and was found in the Rosai family apartment.
The back of the work: labels and stamps
- The back of the work has a notary’s label dated May 30, 1957, the year of the artist’s death, with the following writing: “painting found in Ottone Rosai’s studio on the day of his death.
“True signatures by Messrs: Francesca Fei widow of Rosai dec. / Angelo – Oreste Rosai dec. / Giuseppe – Lucio Krismancic of Alessandro, known to me / 30 May 1957.”
This tells us with certainty that the painting Il Cancello had not been sold and was in the Rosai home – an unseen painting.
- On the frame are the date and the title of the work M950 ‘Il Cancello’ Inventory stamp of the Rosai estate n.19-953 Florence 6 October 1962.
- In addition to the notary’s label, the back of the painting also has the stamp and label of the Galleria Santa Croce in Florence and the stamp and label of the Galleria La Chiocciola in Padua, where the painting was exhibited.
In 1962, the painting was presented in the show Unseen Rosai: Paintings from the Estate with an exhibition catalog including a text by G. Bertolini of the Galleria Santa Croce in Florence.
The Life of Artist Ottone Rosai
Ottone Rosai’s early works were influenced by Futurism and in 1914 he showed at the First Exhibition of Futurist Painting at the Galleria Sprovieri in Rome. His works accompanied those of artists like Aleksandr Archipenko, Alessandra Ekster, Olga Rozanova, Depero, Marinetti, Martini, Morandi, Prampolini, Rosai, Cangiullo, and Sironi.
Later his style became more figurative.
He painted many portraits, including those donated by his wife Francesca Fei and his brother Oreste to the Museo del Novecento in Florence.
After World War II and a period of slow recovery, Ottone Rosai resumed painting in 1950, the year he made our piece Il Cancello.
Rosai started gaining recognition in the 1950s with many shows in Italy and abroad. He began writing again and won the Premio del Fiorino. At the Venice Biennale in 1952 he was given an entire room.
In an interview, Professor Giovanni Faccenda said that Ottone Rosai left us with a message: behind a closed gate (like the one in our painting) or behind the next curve in the road is always the hope of something new.
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