In the dressing Room

Educated at the Istituto dei Belli Arti in Naples and at the Accademia di San Luca in Rome, Ettore Simonetti came from a distinguished Roman family, many of whom were themselves artists. 'Il peignit un grand nombre d'aquarelles sur les sujets alors en vogue: personnages en costume d'poque dans de riches intrieurs des XVIIe et XVIIe sicles, mousquetaires en action ou parties de cartes de cardinaux en habits pourpres. Mais il peignit aussi, d'imagination, d'opulentes scnes de bazars orientaux' (C. Juler, Les Orientalistes de l'Ecole Italienne, Paris, 1994, p. 158). It is in Simonetti's Orientalist pictures that the artist's skill in portraying lavish and opulent surroundings is best demonstrated and in the present work one can see his fascination with the rich colours and exotic textures of the Orient.