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Aurelio Mariani<break strength="x-strong"/> (Velletri, <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1863</say-as> - <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1939</say-as>)<break strength="strong"/> Portrait of Abbot Stanislao White, 1902<break strength="x-strong"/> Oil on canvas 100x74 cm<break strength="x-strong"/> <p>Aurelio Mariani, in addition to being a prolific author of religious works, was also an appreciated portraitist, and showed a particular propensity for the realistic characterization of his characters. His education took place in Rome, where he studied at the Institutes of the Brothers of the Christian Sisters and at the Academy of Fine Arts, when the Purism of Tommaso Minardi was in great vogue, to which Mariani dared at least initially.</p> In the Portrait of Abbot Stanislao White, a historic figure of the Cistercian monastery of Valvisciolo, the Artist, mindful of Vecellio's models, portrays the Irish abbot against the background of a large dark red curtain, on which his white robe stands out intensely. Particularly valuable is the absolutely realistic rendering of the complexion and features - noble and austere - of Father White, of whom some photographic portraits from the early twentieth century are known. The painting, which has always been kept in Valvisciolo, was made shortly after the election of Prior White as Abbot, which took place in May 1901. Father Stanislaus White was born in Ireland, in Londonderry, on 12 July 1839, from the ancient family of the Counts of Derry. After completing his theological studies, he was ordained a priest on 26 May 1866. His arrival in Italy dates back to 1867, following Abbot Francesco Regis, elected Procurator General of the order at the Roman Curia. In 1893 he moved to Valvisciòlo and began the grandiose renovation works of the Abbey, which continued until the date of his death. Don Stanislao White also worked to open a free school, attended by students from the surrounding countryside and neighboring towns. In 1910 he was invited by Pope Pius X to move, as Apostolic Administrator, to the Abbey of Casamari. Here he died, on January 3, 1911, after a short illness.