Date
1843
Object Type
Painting
Subject
Portrait of Ferdinand I, Emperor of Austria
Holding institution
Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera. On long-term loan and on display at the Museo del Risorgimento in Milan
About The Work
During the systematic cataloguing of the painting collection of the Pinacoteca and the Accademia di Brera (1994), Paola Salvi proposed recognising the Portrait of Emperor Ferdinand I as the painting presented at the Brera exhibition in 1843, which was commissioned by the Accademia to Giuseppe Sogni, holder of the chair of Elementi di Figura (Figure drawing) since 1838.
One of the most highly esteemed portraitists of the Restoration period, Sogni had been working since 1824 for the Quadreria dei benefattori (Picture gallery of the benefactors) of the Ospedale Maggiore and for high-profile private patrons, including Francesco Cavezzali and the banker Ambrogio Uboldo, for whom he had painted, according to the old inventories of his collection, the effigies of "Napoleone I, l'Imperatore d' Austria e Re Carlo Alberto".
The Portrait of Ferdinand I of Austria also belongs to this repertoire of official images. The sovereign, seated on his throne, is accompanied by the emblems of royalty – crown, sceptre, and ermine – while beyond the heavy drapery unfolds a view of Milan Cathedral, an explicit allusion to the political space of his dominion. The iconographic composition, duly solemn, finds a significant precedent in the painting of Giuseppe Molteni, also in the collection of the Accademia di Brera, especially in the analytical preciousness of fabrics and ornaments, intended as visual instruments of legitimisation of power.
A similar stylistic register reappears in his later works, especially in the sumptuous official portrait of Emperor Francesco Giuseppe, who succeeded Ferdinando I to the throne, and in that of Empress Elisabetta d’Austria, dating from 1853 (Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi).
One of the most highly esteemed portraitists of the Restoration period, Sogni had been working since 1824 for the Quadreria dei benefattori (Picture gallery of the benefactors) of the Ospedale Maggiore and for high-profile private patrons, including Francesco Cavezzali and the banker Ambrogio Uboldo, for whom he had painted, according to the old inventories of his collection, the effigies of "Napoleone I, l'Imperatore d' Austria e Re Carlo Alberto".
The Portrait of Ferdinand I of Austria also belongs to this repertoire of official images. The sovereign, seated on his throne, is accompanied by the emblems of royalty – crown, sceptre, and ermine – while beyond the heavy drapery unfolds a view of Milan Cathedral, an explicit allusion to the political space of his dominion. The iconographic composition, duly solemn, finds a significant precedent in the painting of Giuseppe Molteni, also in the collection of the Accademia di Brera, especially in the analytical preciousness of fabrics and ornaments, intended as visual instruments of legitimisation of power.
A similar stylistic register reappears in his later works, especially in the sumptuous official portrait of Emperor Francesco Giuseppe, who succeeded Ferdinando I to the throne, and in that of Empress Elisabetta d’Austria, dating from 1853 (Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi).
Title
Ritratto dell'imperatore Ferdinando I d'Austria
Creator
Attributed to Giuseppe Sogni
Subject
Portrait of Ferdinand I, Emperor of Austria
Object Type
Painting
Original Function
Collection
Date
1843
Technique / Support
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
cm 253 x 181.5
Holding institution
Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera. On long-term loan and on display at the Museo del Risorgimento in Milan
Inventory number
Reg. 1943, 271
Bibliography
Salvi, Paola. Entry no. 695. In Pinacoteca di Brera. Dipinti dell’Ottocento e del Novecento. Collezioni dell’Accademia e della Pinacoteca, vol. 2, Musei e Gallerie di Milano, edited by Fernando Mazzocca. Milano: Mondadori Electa, 1994. 624, ill.
Conservation status
Fair
Unique identifier
0302201006