Description
 
This is an artifact of opera history. Rosa Ponselle and her sister Carmen Ponselle were famous opera singers who sang with the likes of Enrico Caruso. This oil painting was rescued in the area of her home, Baltimore, MD. Rosa died in 1981, leaving a legacy as one of the greatest opera divas in history.
 
Somewhere in the world, there is another portrait, similar to this one, of Rosa’s sister Carmella Ponselle, also in Edwardian garb, and both appear to have been rendered in the sister’s late teens or early 20s, before their fame had fully set in and during the years that they were studying bel canto with their teacher.
 
This portrait is framed in exhorbitant gold leaf which is in failing condition and would take a skilled reconstruction to be whole.