Property from Marco Voena's London pied-à-terre (lots 106-131)
Andrea Appiani
Portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821)
Live auction begins on:
November 19, 01:30 PM GMT
Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 GBP
Bid
16,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Property from Marco Voena's London pied-à-terre (lots 106-131)
Andrea Appiani
Milan 1754–1817
Portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte in Roman classical attire (1769–1821)
oil on canvas
unframed: 49.1 x 40.1 cm.; 19⅜ x 15¾ in.
framed: 68.5 x 59.1 cm.; 27 x 23¼ in.
Anonymous sale, Genova, Wannenes, 28 May 2013, lot 138 (as anonymous, 19th century);
Where acquired.
F. Leone, Andrea Appiani, Pittore di Napoleone, Milan 2015, p. 91, pl. LXXII, reproduced in colour;
F. Leone, 'I ritratti di Napoleone dipinti da Andrea Appiani: un inedito e alcune precisazioni', in MDCCC 1800, 2023, 12, p. 238, fig. 8, reproduced in colour.
Alongside his contemporary Jacques-Louis David (1748–1825), the Neoclassical painter Andrea Appiani was arguably Napoleon Bonaparte's leading portraitist. From 1796 onward, and spanning a period of just under a decade, Appiani's portraits of Napoleon accurately record the different iconographic registers that Napoleon sought to assign to his image over the years: conquering general, First Consul, Emperor of the French, King of Italy.
This painting, dated by Francesco Leone to 1802, is based on a drawing by the artist depicting Napoleon's likeness in the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, Milan.1 The latter also served as the prototype for at least two other portraits of the French general, both respectively in private collections.2
2 Leone in MDCCC 1800 2023, p. 237, figs 6 and 7, reproduced in colour.
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