Rosina Ferrara

Rosina Ferrara (1861–1934) was an Italian girl from the island of Capri, who became the favorite muse of American expatriate artist John Singer Sargent. Captivated by her exotic beauty, a variety of 19th-century artists, including Charles Sprague Pearce, Frank Hyde, and George Randolph Barse made works of art of her that are now owned by private collectors and museums. Ferrara was featured in the 2003 art exhibit "Sargent's Women" at New York City's Adelson Galleries, as well as in the eponymous book published that year.

At about the age of thirty, Ferrara married Barse and they moved to the United States, settling in Westchester County, New York.

In the 19th century, American and European artists and writers traveled to the island Capri for its beautiful coastline, blue-green water, architecture, relaxed and rich culture, and the "exceptional beauty of its people" who are a mix of descendants of Roman, Greek, and Phoenician people. For instance, inspired by the beautiful women from Capri and Naples, Alphonse de Lamartine wrote the romantic novel Graziella.

Of Greek ancestry, Ferrara was born in Anacapri, Capri, in 1861. She is considered a descendant of Barbarossa, a 16th-century pirate.

Beginning in the 1870s, she modeled for European and American artists, including British artist Frank Hyde who had a studio in the former Santa Teresa monastery.

John Singer Sargent came to the town of Anacapri on the island in the summer of 1878, as had other of his friends who were artists. While there, he met and became a friend of Frank Hyde and worked in his studio. Taken by Ferrara's beauty, he made twelve paintings of her over one year, including Dans Les Olivier,Head of an Anacapri Girl, and Capri Girl on a Rooftop.

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