G. Verdi. Portrait in oils of the composer, after 1858

Giuseppe Verdi

Fine half-length portrait of the composer

executed in oil on board, Italian school, signed with the initial 'R' (?) lower right

14.5 x 10.3cm, pencil annotation to reverse ("Saros"?), unframed, no place, after 1858, old crease in the upper left background with some associated minor paint loss

This fine portrait of the composer represents apparently a copy of the well-known, and somewhat larger, portrait (60 x 50cm) by Domenico Morelli (1858) that was owned by Verdi and is now is in the Villa Verdi. Although not as famous as Boldoni's portrait (1886) or the classic bust by Gemito (1873), the Morelli painting captures the composer in his prime middle years, between the time of La traviata (1853) and the later masterpiece La forza del destino (1862). To judge from what is known of the ownership history of Morelli's original, it seems likely that the present portrait, although not done from life, was copied from it either in c.1873, when the original was given back by Vincenzo Torelli to Verdi, or around 1896 when the original was returned temporarily to Morelli for cleaning, or c.1902, just after Verdi's death. Of the Morelli image there exists also an engraved print by Saro Cucinotta (1830-1871), although given that that image lacks the laurel leaf garland border of the present portrait and the Morelli (the garland was added in the latter by Filippo Palizzi), it is likely that the former is linked to the latter and not to the Cucinotta print.

LITERATURE:

Domenico Morelli e il suo tempo [exhibition catalogue] (2005), p. 118