Lot 491
FOLLOWER OF GIORGIO DOMENICO DUPRA
HALF-LENGTH PORTRAIT OF KING CARLO EMANUELE IV OF SARDINIA (1751-1819)
Auction: Day Two | Thursday 20 August from 10am | Lots 199 - 555
Description
Inscribed verso 'CARLO EM.le FERDdo. Ma. PRIo. PIEMte. Nato li 24 Mago. 1751', oil on canvas
Dimensions
62cm x 51cm (24in x 20in)
Provenance
The Collection of S.A.R. La Principessa Reale Maria Beatrice di Savoia;
Her Sale, Christie's, London, 22 April 2005, lot 1055;
Private Collection of a Gentleman
Footnote
Carlo Emanuele was the eldest son of King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia and his wife, the Infanta Antonia of Spain. In 1775, he married Marie Clotilde, sister of King Louis XVI of France, in a union arranged for political reasons. At the time of his succession to the throne in 1796, he ruled over a kingdom which included the island of Sardinia and territories in north-west Italy. However, by 1798, he was forced to abdicate his territories on the Italian mainland to the French Republic. He and his wife henceforth lived in Rome and Naples as guests of the wealthy Colonna family.
After the death of his wife in 1802, Carlo Emanuele was said to be so distraught that he abdicated his Sardinian throne to his brother Vitorrio Emanuele. He retained his personal title of king and lived in Rome and Frascati, where he often visited his cousin, Henry Benedict Stuart, Cardinal Duke of York. Following the latter's death, Carlo Emanuele was recognised by the Jacobites as King Charles IV of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, although he never made any attempts to pursue the British throne. In 1815, he took vows in the Society of Jesus and lived out the rest of his life at the Jesuite novitiate in Rome.