Giulio Rosati

Giulio Rosati painted colourful scenes of North African and Middle Eastern life: men playing chess or backgammon, merchants bargaining, horsemen in desert camps. His works are full of patterned rugs, bright costumes and fine detail.

He was born and died in Rome, and trained at the Accademia di San Luca. He was one of the most productive Orientalist painters of his time, working mostly in watercolour and sometimes in oil, and he sold mainly through dealers rather than exhibitions. Remarkably, he is not known ever to have visited the places he painted. His son Alberto also became an Orientalist painter.

The Chess Players and A Game of Backgammon show his taste for quiet, detailed scenes of daily life.