Francesco PODESTI (1800-1895), attribué à. Lot n° 46

Portrait of Henri d'Artois (1820-1883), Count of Chambord, aged 20. Oil on canvas, circa 1840-1842. With stamp on the back of the canvas manufacturer "Au Spectre Solaire", quai de l'École in Paris (before 1842). In its original rectangular wooden frame and gilded stucco topped with the royal coat of arms of France and decorated with fleur-de-lys at the corners. Good condition (slight restorations). H. 55 x W. 46 cm. Frame: H. 88 x W. 71 cm. History At the end of 1836, the Royal Court in exile left Prague to settle in the Coronini Palace in Goritz, Austria. Barely two weeks after his arrival, Charles X was seized with a "cold" that precipitated his death. Henri was devastated to lose his "good father", with whom he had always lived and who had given him all his affection. From this palace, the Count of Chambord discovered Europe with his new governor the Duke of Levis. The stay in Rome in 1840 was an opportunity to have his official portrait painted by a talented painter. For a while, Ingres was considered for the job, but his work as director of the Académie de France prevented him from fulfilling the commission. Podesti, "a very distinguished history painter", was chosen. The prince's attitude respects the tradition of official portraits: standing, facing forward, with his right hand resting on a piece of furniture and his left arm folded over his hip. This half-body portrait, now kept at the Château de Chambord, was the subject of several copies in reduction by the artist and his workshop, mainly in bust form, of which we know of a few dozen copies such as ours, whose fleur-de-lys frame is, however, extremely rare.