RUBENS SANTORO

Oil on canvas, 71.5 x 59.5 cm, 1934 RUBENS SANTORO (Montegrassano, Cosenza 1859 – Naples 1941) Portrait of Anne of Orléans, Duchess of Aosta (1906 – 1986). Oil on canvas, 71.5 x 59.5 cm, 1934. A finely dressed gentlewoman, wearing a low-cut dress and covered in a sumptuous fox fur, is depicted in three-quarter view, casting a sharp gaze towards the viewer. The figure emerges against a damask orange background, almost like a curtain, which, through its intensity and chromatic richness, contributes to the luxurious and vaguely allusive character of this admirable snapshot. The painting, a testament to the refined culture of a civilization still imbued with Art Deco taste – a culture nonetheless predominant in Italian painting of the 1930s – bears the date '1934' and the signature of the celebrated Calabrian painter Rubens Santoro. The woman depicted is easily identifiable as Princess Anne of Orléans, daughter of the Duke of Guise, John. Born from a lineage tracing back to King Louis Philippe of France, Anne married Amedeo of Savoy, third Duke of Aosta and nephew of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, at the age of twenty-one. The work is accompanied by an expert report by FEDERICO GIANNINI. THE WORK WILL BE SHIPPED INSIDE A WOODEN CRATE AND WILL BE ACCOMPANIED BY A CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY.