Bert Gallery

“She has a great imagination, a sense of rhythm, a fine gift of modeling and textures, a treatment that should carry her far.”

L. Dame Boston Globe, 1949

Louise E. Marianetti, was a talented painter known for her egg tempera, oils, pastels and drawings. After her professional art training she enjoyed a long and productive career painting and exhibiting her work. The artist garnered critical reviews from the Providence Journal, New York Times, Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, Boston Herald and Fort Worth Star. She is listed in Who Was Who in American Art.

Louise E. Marianetti embodies the persona often ascribed to artists - the private, dedicated and rather eccentric painter. Frequently photographed in her black trademark beret, Marianetti excelled in the visual arts earning a degree from RISD in 1936 and then onto the Arts Students League in New York City for further study with William Palmer and Robert Brackman until 1939. It is during her study in New York that she encountered the revival of tempera painting enchanting many American artists. This medieval technique is a permanent fast drying painting medium made up of color pigment mixed with egg. Marianetti pursued this fastidious technique in her early career as a tribute to her New York mentors and also the great artistic legacies of Italian Renaissance painters of Botticelli and Raphael.

Upon her return back to Rhode Island in the early 40’s Marianetti began to build her career, reconnecting with RISD colleagues, joining the Providence Art Club and regularly exhibiting. By the end of the decade, in 1949, she had assembled an important body of work for a show at the Vose Gallery that then traveled to the Newport Art Museum and Columbia University.

Marianetti is distinguished for her exacting technique and refinement of the egg tempera medium. Her realistic approach transcends to a worldly realm that leaves viewers with the impression of a super real or magical mysticism. Leaving egg tempera behind in later artistic life, Marianetti showed her versatility and command of the pastel medium establishing a strong collector base and exhibiting frequently. She showed in numerous group and one person exhibits throughout her lifetime.