13/4/23 - Acquisition - Versailles, Musée national du château - There is a great contrast between the two portraits of Étienne Vincent de Margnolas sculpted at the same time by two neo-classical artists: one, made in terracotta by Joseph Chinard and kept in the Frick Collection, seduces by the elegance of the model, whose clothes are carefully described; the detail of the collar slightly turned up on one side adds life to the portrait, as does the movement of the head, which is barely perceptible. The other effigy is an unadorned hermes bust carved from ancient marble - probably a replacement - by Giacomo Spalla; although his features are faithfully rendered, he has the severe beauty of ancient heroes. This work was preempted by the Château de Versailles, sold for 44,800 euros at the Talabardon & Gautier sale organised by Ader (see brief of 19/3/23). It joins other portraits by Giacomo Spalla in the collections, notably a bust of Napoleon and another of Marie-Louise. The portrait of the Empress was part of an allegorical group executed in Turin in 1810, evoking her marriage to the Emperor, entitled The Hymen engraving an inscription on the base of a bust of the Empress Marie-Louise; the figure of the Hymen is now in the Louvre. From Spalla, the Musée Napoléon I in Fontainebleau had also preempted in 2018 a bust of Jean-Baptiste Nompère de Champagny, Duc de Cadore (see brief of 2/7/18).
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- 1. Joseph Chinard (1756-1813)
Portrait of Etienne Vincent de Margnolas, 1809
Terracotta - 64 x 64 x 38 cm
New York, The Frick Collection
Photo: The Frick Collection - See the image in its page
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- 2. Giacomo Spalla (1775-1834)
Portrait of Etienne Vincent de Margnolas
Antique marble - 59.6 x 28.2 x 27.5 cm
Versailles, Musée national du château
Photo: Ader - See the image in its page
Although he died at the age of 28, Étienne Vincent de Margnolas had time for a brilliant career. Administrator of the hospices of Lyon, he became an auditor at the Conseil d’Etat before joining the Ministry of Finance in 1807. In the same year, he was appointed commissioner of the emperor to the government commission of Warsaw, and was made a knight of the Legion of Honour. Recalled to France, he was appointed Prefect of Po in 1808 and then State Councillor in extraordinary service in 1809, in charge of the correspondence of the third district of the general police, i.e. the "departments beyond the Alps". He died a few months later as a result of an illness.
Born in Turin, Giacomo Spalla trained in Rome, attending the Academy of St. Luke and the studio of Antonio Canova. Back in his native city, he adapted to the annexation of Piedmont by France in 1802, fulfilled official commissions and was eventually appointed sculptor to His Imperial and Royal Majesty in the "departments beyond the Alps", curator of the Imperial Museum and director of the S
chool of Sculpture at the University of Turin. He naturally portrayed the Emperor and his family, sometimes borrowing his models from other sculptors. For the palaces of Turin and Stupinigi in particular, he made busts of Napoleon after Antoine-Denis Chaudet, as well as busts of the Empress Josephine, also after Chaudet, which he replaced in 1810 with portraits of Marie-Louise derived from the work of François-Joseph Bosio. He also sculpted bas-reliefs illustrating Napoleon’s great battles for various residences in Piedmont. The Château de Malmaison preserves a series of reliefs depicting the battles of Marengo and Iéna, the interview of the two emperors after Austerlitz, as well as the coronation of the Emperor.