Cotswolds auction unveils rare work by Anna Tonelli

Believed to be the work of Anna Tonelli, the piece will be offered for sale by The Cotswold Auction Company at a two-day auction taking place on May 12 and 13.

Anna Tonelli, born Anna Nistri, was an Italian portrait painter active in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

The artwork, dated 1794 and believed to be a self-portrait, shows a young woman holding a palette and seated at an easel.

Lindsey Braune, auctioneer at The Cotswold Auction Company, said: “Anna Tonelli was a rarity during the Georgian period – a successful female artist who built a cosmopolitan career across Italy, England and India, mixing with the imperial elite.

“Overshadowed by her male contemporaries at the time, she has recently been rediscovered as an important artist who experienced life in colonial circles at the height of the British empire and created an early visual record of British India.”

Mrs Tonelli’s career took flight through connections with British patrons on the Grand Tour, including the influential Clive family, relatives of Robert Clive, also known as ‘Clive of India.’

She travelled to London in the 1790s, working as a portraitist and art teacher, and exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1794 and 1797.

Between 1798 and 1801, she accompanied the Clives to India, producing portraits of British colonial figures as well as local Indian rulers.

Her work is held in prestigious public collections, including the British Museum and the Holburne Museum in Bath.

The self-portrait, valued between £1,500 and £2,000, is signed by Tonelli and dated to the back.

Born Anna Nistri in Florence, she later married violinist and composer Luigi Tonelli.