Lot 189
189
BENEDETTO MENGHINI, CIRCA 1825/1830
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VA… Read more
BENEDETTO MENGHINI, CIRCA 1825/1830

The composer Saverio Mercadante (1795-1870), facing left in black coat, open white shirt with pleated ruffle, fur-bordered blue velvet cloak draped over his left shoulder, gold earring, curly dark hair and sideburns, wearing the badge of the Neapolitan Order of St George of the Reunion (fourth class) suspended from a blue ribbon

Details
BENEDETTO MENGHINI, CIRCA 1825/1830
The composer Saverio Mercadante (1795-1870), facing left in black coat, open white shirt with pleated ruffle, fur-bordered blue velvet cloak draped over his left shoulder, gold earring, curly dark hair and sideburns, wearing the badge of the Neapolitan Order of St George of the Reunion (fourth class) suspended from a blue ribbon
signed 'Menghini. f.' (lower left)
rectangular, 2 13/16 x 2 7/16 in. (72 x 62 mm.), later gilt-metal easel frame with beaded inner border and surmounted by ribbon and bow cresting
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

A pupil of the Academy of Music of Naples, Mercadante was soon spotted by Rossini. After the premiere of his first opera at San Carlo Theatre, Naples, Mercadante travelled to Spain and Portugal. In 1833 he became musical director of the Novara Cathedral. Rossini invited him to Paris in 1836 where he was extremely successful. Mercadante became director of the Academy of Music of Naples in 1840. Due to his abandonment of exagerated virtuosity in his musical style, he is considered a predecessor of Verdi. A prolific composer, his oeuvre includes sixty operas and twenty masses.

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