Lot Essay
This unusual portait of Carolina Meynier exemplifies the ouevre of Giuseppe Maria Bonzanigo (d.1820). A native of Turin and a leading light in the development of Neo-Classicism under the patronage of the House of Savoy, Bonzanigo is perhaps most celebrated for his microscultura silhouette portraits and works of art.
Bonzanigo completed two closely related memorial silhouette portraits of Carolina Meynier, the other now in the Museo Civico, Asti (illustrated in C. Bertolotto & V. Villani, Giuseppe Maria Bonzanigo, 1989, no. 1, col. pl. 1). It is similarly inscribed to the reverse (translation) Carolina Meinier born in 1770 28 June in Turin married to Conte Onofrio Ferretti in 1793, died 13 February 1797 she was full of the greatest virtue.
The daughter of Francesco Saverio, Marquess of Valmeyier, Carolina Meynier married Count Onofrio di Giambattista Ferretti (an ancestor of Pope Pius IX), in the Carmine Church, Turin, on 7th September, 1793. She died, tragically early at the age of twenty-six, in 1797 and this touching commemmorative portrait was commissioned by her husband following her death. As C. Bartotto and Villani (op.cit) have pointed out, the fashion of the bodice, hair and flowers relates closely to Porporati's portrait of Madame de Gubenatis of 1793 (now in the Castello di Racconigi), and it seems highly probable that her widower would have wanted her to be portrayed in her marital robes. Closely related figures appear on the Reycend mirror in the Museo Civico, Turin (ibid. p.37, fig. 4), while a similar eagle surmounts the portrait of General Suvarov of 1799 (ibid p. 43, fig. 119).
Bonzanigo completed two closely related memorial silhouette portraits of Carolina Meynier, the other now in the Museo Civico, Asti (illustrated in C. Bertolotto & V. Villani, Giuseppe Maria Bonzanigo, 1989, no. 1, col. pl. 1). It is similarly inscribed to the reverse (translation) Carolina Meinier born in 1770 28 June in Turin married to Conte Onofrio Ferretti in 1793, died 13 February 1797 she was full of the greatest virtue.
The daughter of Francesco Saverio, Marquess of Valmeyier, Carolina Meynier married Count Onofrio di Giambattista Ferretti (an ancestor of Pope Pius IX), in the Carmine Church, Turin, on 7th September, 1793. She died, tragically early at the age of twenty-six, in 1797 and this touching commemmorative portrait was commissioned by her husband following her death. As C. Bartotto and Villani (op.cit) have pointed out, the fashion of the bodice, hair and flowers relates closely to Porporati's portrait of Madame de Gubenatis of 1793 (now in the Castello di Racconigi), and it seems highly probable that her widower would have wanted her to be portrayed in her marital robes. Closely related figures appear on the Reycend mirror in the Museo Civico, Turin (ibid. p.37, fig. 4), while a similar eagle surmounts the portrait of General Suvarov of 1799 (ibid p. 43, fig. 119).