Stella Rudolph and Carlo Maratti

A charismatic family friend who modelled for Marlboro on the side, Stella Rudolph was a formidable font of knowledge on Baroque and Neoclassical art who I admired long before my first cigarette. Photographed here by Sarah Quill with my father, who likewise belonged to a small circle of Anglo-American art world expats living in Italy, Stella moved to Florence soon after the flood of 1966 and stayed here until her death in 2020. For decades she gathered notes and photos for her long-awaited catalogue raisonné on Carlo Maratti but, surprisingly, her essay for our 2016 Maratti catalogue was one of few published writings on the artist. Finally, after four years of labour by Simonetta Prosperi, Stella’s monograph was just published by Ugo Bozzi. She would have been proud!