A wonderful genre painting of a girl feeding a rabbit by Antonio Ermolao Paoletti. A young girl is depicted wearing a red scarf on her head and holding a basket under her arm in a rustic interior. To her left, can be seen a rabbit standing on its hind legs to reach up to a leaf offered from the girl’s outstretched hand.

Antonio Ermolao Paoletti was born on 8 May 1834 in Venice, the son of Ermalao Paoletti and his wife Maria Rossi. His father was a scholar and professor at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice and as well as publishing reference books on architecture and monuments also worked as a painter and engraver. Paoletti was taught and encouraged by his father from a young age before beginning his formal art education at the Accademia under Pompeo Marino Molmenti (1819-1894).

Influenced by Molmenti, his initial works were of historical subjects including ‘Henry III visiting Veronica Franco’ and ‘The Arrival of Henry III in Venice’ which he exhibited in Venice from 1860. Two of his paintings: ‘The death of Fra' Paolo Sarpi’ and ‘The scribe in the Porta della Carta’ were reproduced by the Società Promotrice for its members. Around this time, he married Giuseppina Tedesco and they started a family. Theiir son Sylvius Davide Paoletti (1864-1921) also became an artist.

Perhaps in part due to his becoming a parent, he began to specialise in anecdotal paintings of children and women, usually against the stunning backdrop of his home City. He also painted a number of frescos for churches including the main altarpiece depicting the Madonna of the Rosary with St Anthony and St Materno for the parish church of Melara.

Paoletti also exhibited his work at a number of major galleries outside Venice including Milan from 1872, Florence, Venice and Turin. He also exhibited paintings in Vienna from 1873 and Antwerp and England during the 1880’s. Like his father, he went on to become a professor at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice. He died in Venice on 13 December, 1912.

Examples of his work are held by the Haworth Gallery, Litchfield District Council, Sheffield Museum and Sunderland Museum.

© Benton Fine Art