Femme à la voilette, 1895-1910. Impressions in France, Germany, Great Britain and Italy

On the occasion of the rediscovery of one of the most refined versions of Medardo Rosso's masterpiece "Femme à la voilette", originally in the Sforni collection in Florence and finally acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the essay provides an exhaustive reconstruction of the context of the first creation of the sculpture by Rosso. By means of edited and unedited sources and extensive survey on magazines, periodicals and books at that time, the essay positions the ideation and execution of the work at the most intense moment in the cultural and artistic development of the artist during his residency in Paris. Finally, by retrieving sources which had not been hitherto acknowledged, I focus on the role played by "Femme à la voilette" in shaping the artist reception in Europe out of France, with special focus on the German speaking countries, UK, and Italy, where the artist elaborated a strategy of self-promotion which shows a distinctive and pioneering self awareness of his role and relevance in the art of his time.