CONSTANTINA COLTELLINI

Records on Constantina Coltellini are scarce and her surviving works are also few. She is said to have been born in Naples and also to have lived in Florence, where she was elected a professor at the Academy of Design Arts in 1781. An inscription on an 1837 print after her portrait of Neapolitan composer Domenico Cimarosa (1749 –1801) [Municipal Library of Trento, GI 1 v. c 96-040] gives her name as ‘Signora Coltellini’, suggesting Coltellini was her married name. 

Coltellini’s earliest extant miniature can be found in the collection of Museum Rotterdam: a portrait of Jean-Baptiste baron Olivier (Strasbourg 1765 - Witternesse 1813), which is signed and dated 1803 [inv. no. 11398]. Other known miniatures depict sitters of various nationalities including British, American and numerous prominent Italian figures. It may be that Coltellini, like her earlier Venetian counterpart, Rosalba Carriera (1673-1757), was visited in her native country by tourists on a European Grand Tour.

Coltellini’s miniatures can be of variable quality and the present work is outstanding in its sophistication. As one of her best-preserved examples, it showcases a delicate stippling in the flesh of the face and hands, masterfully contrasted with the technique used on the clothing and background. This flattering modelling of the sitter’s features is complemented by the highly fashionable hairstyle ‘a la Titus’ and swaggering pose - he appears to be sat astride a chair, in a startlingly casual attitude that would have been unseemly in a formal oil portrait. This informal composition would only be captured in the miniature format, and no doubt part of a flirtatious exchange with the intended recipient of this miniature.