Completed British 19th C, except portraits, British 20th C, except portraits, Dress and Textiles 6 Was 'Rest by the Sea' painted by Alexander Mark Rossi (1840–1916)?

STF_STKMG_1954_FA_95
Topic: Artist

Is this by Alexander Mark Rossi (1840–1916)? Compare this painting and the Rossi in the collection of Rotherham Heritage Services. Children on beaches were favourite subjects of the artist.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/children-at-play-69540

The signatures on the two paintings also seem similar, notice the first 's'.

The collection comment: 'The painting was accessioned in 1954 as by A. M. Roisi. It seems possible that this was Rossi but we have no information to prove this.'

Martin Hopkinson, Entry reviewed by Art UK

Completed, Outcome

Jade Audrey King,

This discussion has now been closed. The artist was found to be Alexander Mark Rossi (1840–1916).

This amend will appear on the Your Paintings website by the end of July 2015. Thank you to all for participating in this discussion. To those viewing this discussion for the first time, please see below for all comments that led to this conclusion.

If any contributors have new information about this painting, such as that which may lead to a definite execution date, we encourage them to propose a new discussion by following the Art Detective link on the Your Paintings page: http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/rest-by-the-sea-20103

5 comments

Tim Williams,

Hole in one! Yes - the size is also identical to the other beach scene by Rossi on yourpaintings.

Jade Audrey King,

This discussion has now also been linked to the Dress and Textiles group.

This is because The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery do not have a date for the painting, and the clothes of the children seem different enough from the other Rossi paintings (if indeed the work is by Rossi) for the work to be earlier/later than those in other collections.

Yes, this is surely by Rossi. Well done Martin. Looking at other examples his signature, it often has a long first 's' that could be misread, but the form is otherwise very consistent.

If 'Rest by the Sea' is the original title, then this is not one of his Royal Academy exhibits (see http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=yale.39002088542338;view=1up;seq=439) and looks quite sketchy compared to his his more highly finished works, although he exhibited a 'Study on the Beach' at the RA in 1883.

I think we can confidently assign this to Alexander Mark Rossi (1840–1916) on the basis of signature, style and subject matter.