Studio and Gallery
Attilio Simonetti
Studio and Gallery
At the beginning of his career, Simonetti shared a studio with the Catalan painter, Mariano Fortuny y Marsal, in Via Flaminia.
During the 1870s, he moved to Palazzo Altemps, now home to the Museo Nazionale Romano.
In his studio on the top floor of the building, he also had a Gallery, where he kept everything that he collected for painting purposes. As evidenced by photographs from that time, the atmosphere one could breathe there was that of an exuberant collection of antique objects,
in which textiles, ceramics, weapons and glassware prevailed.
Simonetti’s work as a painter and antique dealer flourished to such an extent that Palazzo Odescalchi in Via Vittoria Colonna became his home, his studio and his Gallery from 1889 onwards.
In the building that he bought from Prince Baldassare Odescalchi in 1904, Simonetti was to create a unique place for his antique business. It was there that – first in the courtyard crowded with columns, statues and ancient marbles and then in the great covered gallery created in its place in 1915 – he was fully to realize his career, until his death in 1925.
Attilio Simonetti’s Studio in Palazzo Altemps, c. 1883.
In this photo held in the Simonetti Archive, it is primarily ceramics, glass objects, textiles and antique ornaments that can be seen.
Provenance: Simonetti Archive. Albumen print.
Attilio Simonetti’s Studio in Palazzo Altemps, c. 1883.
In this photo held in the Simonetti Archive, one can see some paintings by the artist alongside the objects he had gathered together as a collection and to paint. There is a prevalence of antique weapons on the left.
Provenance: Simonetti Archive. Albumen print.
The Palazzo Simonetti-Odescalchi Courtyard in Via Vittoria Colonna (before 1915).
In this photo held in the Simonetti Archive, one can see the collections of statues, columns and ancient marbles that constituted an important part of the antique dealing until the beginning of the twentieth century.
Provenance: Simonetti Archive. Albumen print.
The Palazzo Simonetti-Odescalchi Gallery in Via Vittoria Colonna.
In this photo held in the Simonetti Archive, one can see the gallery’s appearance after 1915, when the architect Carlo Busiri Vici was appointed to complete the block and the courtyard’s covering.
Provenance: Simonetti Archive. Albumen print.