FRENCH SCHOOL OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
"Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim, 71st and last Grand Master of the Hospitallers of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem".
Oil on canvas (partly faded, traces of humidity).
45x38 cm
Modern gilded wooden frame.
Provenance:
-Curmi family, close to the 68th grand master Pinto da Fonseca.
Biography :
Ferdinand von HOMPESCH zu BOLHEIM (1744-1805)
Admitted to the Order of the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem at the age of four, on December 9, 17482, Ferdinand von Hompesch was first a page to Grand Master Manoel Pinto da Fonseca. He was later appointed ambassador of the Order to the Austrian court, a position he held for twenty-five years, until July 17, 1797, when he was elected 71st Grand Master.
He offered no resistance to the landing and subsequent investment of Malta by French troops under the command of General Bonaparte on June 6, 1798. The capitulation was signed on June 11. Malta became a possession of the French Republic. As compensation, it was foreseen that the government of the Republic would intervene to obtain for the Grand Master a principality in Germany; failing that, he was to receive a pension of 300,000 francs and, in any case, an indemnity of 600,000 francs for the loss of his furniture. The French knights received a pension of 700 francs (1,000 francs for knights over 60 years old). As for the knights of other nations, the French government undertook to intervene on their behalf with the states concerned.
The following year, Hompesch resigned his position as Grand Master in favor of the Russian Emperor, Paul I.
Ferdinand de Hompesch died in Montpellier on May 12, 1805 of an asthma attack. He is buried in the church of Sainte-Eulalie.
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