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Antoine François TERIGGI (Bastia, 1785 – 1848)
Portrait of N…
See original version (French)
9
-
Antoine François TERIGGI (Bastia, 1785 – 1848)
Portrait of N…
See original version (French)
Estimate €3,000 - €4,000
Voluntary lot
Description
Antoine François TERIGGI (Bastia, 1785 – 1848)
Portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 – 1815), c. 1815
Gouache, black chalk and watercolour
Signed lower right on the column: ‘A F Teriggi f’; bears the imperial eagle on the column’s base
21.5 x 17 cm – 8 1/2 x 6 3/4 in.
Portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte, c. 1815, gouache, black chalk and watercolour, signed lower right, imperial eagle on the column’s base
Provenance:
Private collection, France.
Note:
A Corsican portrait painter much admired by the Bonapartes, for whom he produced, notably, the portraits of Zénaïde and Charlotte[1], Antoine François Teriggi presents here a touching portrait of the fallen eagle.
Dressed simply, nothing seems to formally mark his status, were it not for the discreet presence of the imperial eagle on the column’s pedestal. With a puffy face, a pale complexion and thinning hair, he nevertheless stands upright, his gaze frank and direct upon the artist capturing his likeness. The approach is reminiscent of that taken in 1841 by Paul Delaroche (1797–1856) in 1841 when he painted *Napoleon at Fontainebleau* (Fig. 1), a portrait of the sovereign in the moment preceding his first fall from power and his exile to Elba. Slumped in an armchair, his facial features betraying exhaustion and resignation, everything suggests the despondency of the impending defeat and its irrevocable nature. In Teriggi’s work, the calm and composed gaze perhaps evokes more the serenity of a man who no longer expects anything in common with what his past has offered him.
[1] See the portrait of Zenaïde and Charlotte Bonaparte, c. 1084, watercolour on ivory, Rome, Museo Napoleonico (inv. MN 157).
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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