| FORTUNATO DURANTI (Montefortino Marche 1787 - 1863) TWO WOMEN WITH CHILDREN Black chalk, watermark 'dove in a circle', 268 x 195 mm. Born and grown up in a small town of the Marches, Duranti studied in Rome and befriended Giani and Minardi, whose studio he frequented. In addition to being an artist, Duranti was a collector, dealer and antiquarian. His life was plagued by both actual and imagined catastrophes and after 1840 he lived in seclusion and poverty in Montefortino, tortured by ill health and his fevered phantasms. During his final decades, Duranti almost exclusively produced drawings. His style is eclectic, owing a debt to old masters but pointing to the future for his stylistic singularity and subjectivity. |
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