(Atzgersdorf 1832–1889 Vienna)
Roman Woman Spinning, signed, inscribed A. Romako Roma, oil on canvas, 62 x 49.5 cm, framed, (Rei)

Provenance:
Dorotheum Auction, Vienna, 18 November 1952, lot 112;
art dealer Franz Schebesta, Vienna;
Austrian private property.

Compare:
Cornelia Reiter, Anton Romako Pionier und Außenseiter der Malerei des 19. Jahrhunderts, published by Bibliothek der Provinz, p.120, no.75.

Catalogued in:
Fritz Novotny, Der Maler Anton Romako, published by Anton Schroll & Co., p. 80, no. 55

Anton Romako spent the major part of his creative life in Rome. He moved to the Eternal City in 1856, a magnet for many Northern European artists seeking tourists willing to purchase their work. The motifs most favoured by the public were religious themes, vedute, and genre depictions of the rural population in local costume. The general taste was for young women with earthenware jugs or baskets of fruit, set in a picturesque landscape. The present work depicts a young Roman woman with distaff: the treatment of the colours, materiality and motif is comparable to that of works by the artist’s Italian counterparts. Romako’s dynamic and characteristic brushwork is not yet evident at this stage. There is a perceptible similarity of style to Louis-Léopold Robert; he would later diverge from the strictures of Classicism to adopt a more lively style of painting. (Compare Cornelia Reiter, Anton Romako, Pionier und Außenseiter der Malerei des 19. Jahrhunderts, p.45). The fine facial features of the girl and soft shaping of the skin lend the model an air of gentleness. It was paintings such as this which brought the artist commercial success and enabled him to establish his wide reputation.