Modern Pair of Oriental Numbered and Signed Etching

Colour etching “Prova d’autore” signed localised and dated ‘Raphael Roma “70”. It depicts in his unmistakable style a couple pictured in an intimate but discreet pose. Antonietta Raphaël, the wife of Mario Mafai and co-founder of the Roman School, is here at the highest level of her artistic expression. This artwork, never before on the market, comes from an important private collection and is beautified by an impressive original frame in silvered wood, in almost perfect condition. Dimensions are frame included The painting is also protected by glass Antonietta Raphaël (1895 – 5 September 1975) was an Italian sculptor and painter of Jewish heritage and Lithuanian birth, who founded the Scuola Romana (Roman School) movement together with her husband Mario Mafai. She was an artist characterised by a profound anti-academic conviction, also affirmed by her sculptures which, especially after World War II, dominated her output. They highlighted the tender and vibrant carnality present in stone, with works such as Miriam dormiente (Sleeping Miriam) and Nemesis. A rabbi's daughter, Raphael moved to London with her mother after her father's death. There she attended the British Museum, and came to know Jacob Epstein and Ossip Zadkine, the renowned French sculptor of Russian origin and member of the Expressionist movement. However, Antonietta in those days concentrated on studying music, and eventually graduated in piano at the Royal Academy of Music and teaching solfeggio in the East End. At her mother's death in 1919, she moved to Paris and in 1924 to Rome. In 1925 Antonietta attended the Accademia di Belle Arti, befriended artist Mario Mafai and went to live with him, in a long-lasting relationship. They had three daughters: Miriam (1926), a journalist, partner of Communist politician Giancarlo Pajetta; Simona (1928) member of the Italian Senate and author; and Giulia (1930), a scenographer and costume designer. In 1927, Raphael and Mafai moved to an apartment in via Cavour...

Beautiful and important pair of architectural studies of the Roman Forum as they appeared in the time of the Empire precisely, as the inscriptions in the works attest, in 315 B.C. In...