Lorenzo BARTOLINI (Savignano di Prato, 1777 – Florence, 1850) Herm, Portrait of Joseph Bonaparte, 1808 Carrara marble, height 57 cm Inscribed on the base: JOSEPH Provenance: Elisa Bonaparte (1777–1820) Principessa di Lucca e Piombino, Contessa di Compignano, Duchessa di Massa and Principessa di Carrara, Granduchessa di Toscana (from 1809 to 1814); Joseph Bonaparte (1768–1844) Re di Napoli (1806-1808) and then Re di Spagna (1808 - 1813); Zenaide Letizia Bonaparte (1801–54) Principessa di Canino e Musignano; Giulia Bonaparte (1830–1900), Marchesa di Roccagiovine; Marchese Alberto del Gallo di Raccagiovine (1854 - 1947); Marchesa Matilde del Gallo di Roccagiovine (1888-1977); Oliviero Bucci Casari, Conte degli Atti di Sassoferrato; Antonacci Lapiccirella Fine Art | Via Margutta 54 - 00187 Roma Tel +39.06 45433036 | Fax +39.06 45433054 [email protected] | www.alfineart.com Nobildonna Bucci Casari, Contessa degli Atti di Sassoferrato. Detailed provenance: Elisa Bonaparte (1777–1820), the wife of Felice Baciocchi. On Elisa's death, her brother Joseph Bonaparte (1768–1844) portrayed here, the eldest of the Bonaparte brothers, King of Naples (1806–8) and King of Spain (1808–13), inherited most of Elisa's property in Villa Ciardi and Villa Vicentina. On Joseph's death, his property was inherited by his daughter Zenaide Letizia Bonaparte (1801–54), the wife of his cousin Charles-Lucien Bonaparte (1803–57), the son of Lucien Bonaparte (1775–1840), another brother of Napoleon I. On Zenaide Letizia's death, her property was inherited by her daughter Julie Bonaparte (1830–1900), who married Alessandro del Gallo, Marchese di Roccagiovine (1826–92) in 1847. On Julie's death, her property was inherited by her son Alberto del Gallo di Roccagiovine (1854–1947). On Alberto's death, his property was inherited by his daughter Matilde, Marchesa del Gallo di Roccagiovine (1888–1977), who married Francesco Bucci Casari, Conte degli Atti di Sassoferrato. On Matilda's death, her property was inherited by her son Oliviero Bucci Casari, Conte degli Atti di Sassoferrato. On Oliviero's death, his property was inherited by his daughter nobildonna Bucci Casari, Contessa degli Atti di Sassoferrato, the bust's last owner. This portrait of Joseph Bonaparte in the form of a herm is an autograph work by Lorenzo Bartolini, an attribution borne out not only by the sculpture's lofty quality and the unmistakable characteristics of Bartolini's style but also – indeed primarily – by its prestigious provenance, for the portrait originally belonged to Elisa Baciocchi Bonaparte. The absence of a signature, which in no way invalidates the attribution, can easily be explained if we carefully review Bartolini's years in Carrara during the Napoleonic era; and this, even though only a handful of works and documents remain from that time on account of the destruction visited on the Carrara workshop of the sculptor (who never made any secret of his veneration for Napoleon) during the anti-French riots in Carrara in late 1813, duly reported by Tinti in his crucial monograph on Bartolini published in 19361. 1 M. Tinti, Lorenzo Bartolini, 2 vols., Rome 1936 : I, p. 63. Still of crucial importance for Bartolini's activities in Carrara are: P. Marmottan, Les Arts en Toscane sous Napoléon. La princesse Elise, Pisa 1901; G. Hubert, La sculpture dans l'Italie napoléonienne, Paris 1964. Now see also E. Spalletti, Sull'attività di Bartolini al tempo di Carrara e su alcune commissioni per la Reggia Imperiale di Pitti, in Lorenzo Bartolini. Atti delle giornate di studio (Florence, 17–19 February 2013, Gallerie dell'Accademia – Gabinetto G.P. Vieusseux), ed. S. Bietoletti, A. Caputo, F. Falletti, Antonacci Lapiccirella Fine Art | Via Margutta 54 - 00187 Roma Tel +39.06 45433036 | Fax +39.06 45433054 [email protected] | www.alfineart.com On 30 October 1807, taking up a suggestion made by the powerful Dominique Vivant- Denon, the director of the Musée Napoléon, Napoleon personally appointed Bartolini to the post of professor of sculpture at the school run by the Accademia di Belle Arti in Carrara, where he was to take the place of the sculptor Angelo Pizzi. Bartolini, however, was less than enthusiastic about the appointment. He had no intention of leaving Paris and of thus ending his stormy love affair with Mademoiselle Scio. In the end, however, he reluctantly moved to Carrara in January 1808. His teaching post also included the directorship of the sculpture workshops which were busy turning out ornamental works, copies of Classical sculpture and portraits of Napoleon and his extended family with funding from the Banca Elisiana. The production of busts, based on faithful copies or original revisitations of models by such celebrated sculptors as Canova, Chinard, Chaudet and Bosio, were primarily intended for French patrons. The Banca Elisiana established by Baciocchi in May 1807 and managed by Hector Sonolet, the director general of the Accademia's museums and administrative director of the marble trade, was to all intents and purposes a bank for helping and issuing loans to artists and artisans working in the field of sculpture in Carrara. Fig. 1: F. Delaistre, Joseph Bonaparte, King of Naples and then King of Spain, 1808; Versailles, Châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon (detail). Pistoia 2014, pp. 39-47. Antonacci Lapiccirella Fine Art | Via Margutta 54 - 00187 Roma Tel +39.06 45433036 | Fax +39.06 45433054 [email protected] | www.alfineart.com The bank's purpose was to boost the local production of finished marble sculpture by seeking to create employment locally and, in introducing stiff customs tariffs, to discourage the export of unhewn blocks for carving in other areas of Italy and Europe. The concern was capitalised to the tune of 300,000 francs and employed hundreds of sculptors and artisans in the numerous sculpture workshops which it either owned or merely managed2. Fig. 2: Lorenzo Bartolini, Herm, portrait of Jospeh Bonaparte, 1808-1809; Versailles, Châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon. Inscription “Bartolini dir.”. (side view of fig.2) In addition to his role as teacher at the Accademia and to the work commissioned from him directly, Bartolini was also tasked with overseeing the sculpture commissioned from the workshops through the bank. This, because over the many years he had spent in the 2 For the Banca Elisiana's activity see R. Carozzi, La Scuola di Carrara tra Canova e Bartolini, in Scultura, marmo, lavoro: maestri, giovani artisti, ricerche tecniche, exhibition catalogue (Carrara, Massa, Pietrasanta, June – August 1981), ed. M. De Micheli, Milan 1981, pp. 219-231; Id., Artisti e artigiani sotto il segno dell'Impero a Carrara, in Il Principato napoleonico dei Baciocchi (1805-1814). Riforma dello Stato e società, Conference Proceedings (Lucca, 10 – 12 May 1984), ed. V. Tirelli, Luca 1986, pp. 437- 450; L. Passeggia, Carrara e la Francia, in Arte, gusto e cultura materiale, in Italia, Europa e Stati Uniti tra XVIII e XIX secolo, ed. L. Passeggia, Milan 2005, pp. 232 – 301; B. Musetti, Lorenzo Bartolini e la "Banca Elisiana". Ovvero la fabbrica della scultura, in Lorenzo Bartolini scultore del bello naturale, exhibition catalogue (Florence, Galleria dell'Accademia, 31 May – 6 November 2011), ed. F. Falletti, S. Bietoletti, A. Caputo, Florence 2011, pp. 147-151. Antonacci Lapiccirella Fine Art | Via Margutta 54 - 00187 Roma Tel +39.06 45433036 | Fax +39.06 45433054 [email protected] | www.alfineart.com company of his lifelong friend Ingres in David's workshop in Paris (1799–1808), Bartolini had acquired a certain renown and built up a reputation for himself as an outstandingly talented sculptor. The task of copying casts of portraits despatched to Carrara was entrusted directly to the workshop sculptors under Bartolini's direction – indeed many of the busts bear the inscription "Bartolini dir." – and they were reproduced using a pointing machine. The Banca Elisiana had hired the most talented Carrara sculptors to carve the works, a fact which, in the absence of any signature, makes it well nigh impossible to attribute surviving busts – many of them of remarkable quality – with any certainty. The artists hired included sculptors, for example, of the calibre of Bartolomeo Franzoni, Giovanni Andrea Pelliccia, Paolo Triscornia and Pietro Marchetti. Fig. 3: Lorenzo Bartolini, Herm portrait of Jospeh Bonaparte, 1808-1809; Versailles, Châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon. Inscription: “Bartolini dir.” (veduta laterale dell’erma a fig. 2). Rather than revisiting the portraits with a touch of originality, it was the practice to make a plaster model and sometimes even a prototype in marble. We may assume that the marble prototypes, made by other artists as well as Bartolini (Pietro Marchetti, for instance, was a sculptor whose work was much appreciated by Elisa Baciocchi and by Sonolet), were intended for Elisa, as with the bust under discussion here, and possibly on occasion also for other members of the imperial family. These prototypes often then served as the basis for copies, frequently unsigned and devoid of all inscription, or occasionally bearing the legend "Bartolini dir." If the copy was commissioned from a talented sculptor of renown, on the other hand, the artist would very often sign it. Antonacci Lapiccirella Fine Art | Via Margutta 54 - 00187 Roma Tel +39.06 45433036 | Fax +39.06 45433054 [email protected] | www.alfineart.com Fig. 4: P. Triscornia, from L. Bartolini, Herm, portrait of Jospeh Bonaparte, 1808-1809; Versailles, Châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon. And finally, it is worth pointing out that marble prototypes were also frequently unsigned, as is the case with this herm of Joseph. Tinti and Hubert, both extremely reliable sources, attribute the portrait of Joseph Bonaparte to Bartolini who in all likelihood carved it in 1808, revisiting a plaster cast from Paris in a highly original manner. The cast may have been from the face on a full-figure statue of Joseph Bonaparte completed by François Delaistre in 18083 (fig.