Antonio Rossetti

Antonio Rossetti (sometimes recorded as Antonio Rosetti, and signing at least one known work as A. E. Rossetti) was born in Milan on 31 October 1819. He trained there under the sculptor Francesco Somaini before moving to Rome, where he was established by 1843. He worked in Rome for the remainder of his career, producing marble figures on mythological and genre themes, including nudes, allegorical maidens, and scenes such as Esmeralda and Djali, A Nubian Slave, and The Reading Girl, several of which he carved in more than one version for different patrons.

Rossetti exhibited internationally: at the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin in 1864, at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1867, at a Liverpool autumn exhibition of modern pictures in 1877, and in Rome in 1879 and again in 1887. He is also documented in London in 1888. He died in Rome, most commonly dated to 1889 by reference sources including the Public Statues and Sculpture Association and Wikipedia; Art UK more conservatively records him as active "1819 to after 1889," and at least one source gives an earlier date of September 1876 that is not corroborated elsewhere. A death year of 1870 appears in one Bonhams catalogue note but conflicts with documented Roman activity into the late 1880s and is treated here as an error. The exact day and month of his death are not confirmed in any source consulted.

He should not be confused with two other figures who share his name: Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828 to 1882), the British Pre-Raphaelite painter and poet, and Francesco Antonio Rosetti, known as Antonio Rosetti (circa 1750 to 1792), the Bohemian classical composer.

Contemporary critical commentary specific to Rossetti has not been independently verified in the sources consulted here. Modern institutional sources, including the Public Statues and Sculpture Association and museum collection notes from Glasgow Museums and the Walker Art Gallery, describe him consistently as a skilled marble carver working within an academic, genre-and-mythology tradition popular with international private and civic patrons of his period. There is no significant body of modern art-historical scholarship reassessing his standing.

Rossetti's documented auction record is USD 218,975, paid for An Italian white marble figure of a maiden, on pedestal at Christie's London in 2015; the exact sale date is not specified in available sources. Other results illustrate a wide price range: MutualArt reports realized prices for Rossetti spanning USD 632 to USD 218,975 depending on size and medium, and an example titled Amor Secreto sold at Sotheby's New York on 23 October 2007 for USD 21,250. Rossetti's works typically appear in European sculpture and design or works-of-art sales rather than major evening auctions, and no sale higher than the 2015 Christie's London result has been identified as of this writing.

Rossetti carved several of his best-known compositions, including Esmeralda and Djali and The Reading Girl, in more than one version for different patrons, so multiple genuine examples of the same subject exist in different collections and on the market. There is no catalogue raisonne, so buyers should rely on signed and dated inscriptions, museum and exhibition documentation, and auction-house scholarship to establish attribution. His name appears in sources as both Antonio Rossetti and Antonio Rosetti, and at least one signed work uses the form A. E. Rossetti; researchers should also take care not to conflate him with the unrelated British painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti or the eighteenth-century composer Antonio Rosetti. His market is comparatively thin in volume, with most results in the low five to low six figures, so any single sale should be weighed against the small overall number of tracked transactions.