Walter Sickert
Portrait of Signor De Rossi or Gondolier, 1903, c.
Black chalk, pencil, pen and brown ink on buff paper
27.9 x 20 cm
11 x 7 7/8 in
11 x 7 7/8 in
Copyright The Artist
It is very likely that this vivid drawing was executed in Venice around 1903, as it represents from the front the same man with long moustache and hat portrayed in...
It is very likely that this vivid drawing was executed in Venice around 1903, as it represents from the front the same man with long moustache and hat portrayed in a dated drawing which appeared recently on the art market.
The sitter appears to be Signor de Rossi, the owner of Sickert's favourite trattoria in Venice, the Giorgione di San Silvestro (Baron 2006, n. 184.1). The artist portrayed Signor de Rossi in an oil painting a couple of years earlier, featuring shorter moustaches (now in Hastings Museum and Art Gallery). In 1903, Sickert made several dated portrait drawings of Venetian characters (Baron 2006, nn. 225-226), and it was at the trattoria of Signor de Rossi that Sickert found some of his best models
The sitter appears to be Signor de Rossi, the owner of Sickert's favourite trattoria in Venice, the Giorgione di San Silvestro (Baron 2006, n. 184.1). The artist portrayed Signor de Rossi in an oil painting a couple of years earlier, featuring shorter moustaches (now in Hastings Museum and Art Gallery). In 1903, Sickert made several dated portrait drawings of Venetian characters (Baron 2006, nn. 225-226), and it was at the trattoria of Signor de Rossi that Sickert found some of his best models
Provenance
Purchased at the 1942 exhibition by F.C. Bagnall CBE;Christie’s Sale, 20th Century British Art, 23 September 2009, London, lot. 117 (as A Gondolier (Front View))