MPS MEN PORTRAITS SERIES
n°1 English text
Delusions of grandeur
menportraits.blogspot.com © Francis Rousseau 2011-2020 Translation : Anne Menuhin
MEN PORTRAITS _____________________ Delusions of grandeur
Michel Alexandrovitch Romanov (1878-1918) Grand Duke of Russia disguised as Tsarevich (chief of the Cossacks) of the 18th century, during the sumptuous grand costume ball given at the Winter Palace, February 11 and 13, 1903 in front of 3000 guests on the theme of Boyars (the former Russian nobles) to commemorate the bicentenary of the founding of Saint Petersburg. .
Curious destiny, that of this man who was the putative heir to the imperial throne of Russia between 1899 and 1904, at the time when his brother, Tsar Nicholas II, did not yet have a male heir. He was also a member of the Council of State (1901), a member of the Council of Ministers (1902), Inspector General of the Cavalry and Major General of the Imperial Russian Army during the First World War (1914-1918). After his brother’s abdication, he was Czar of all Russia… but only for 24 hours from March 15 to 16, 1917, under the name of Michael II before being forced by the Petrograd Soviet to renounce the throne. From the moment of his abdication, several contradictory themes described his destiny: - an official and historical one sees the Grand Duke as the first member of the imperial family executed (five weeks before his brother and his family) in June 1918 by the Perm Soviet, the city where he was exiled by Lenin. - the other, more romantic, claims that seeing his life threatened, he was replaced by a double at the time of his departure in exile and that he fled to Europe. He is said to have ended his life in a Provençal abbey, disguised as a woman, under the identity of the Sapphic friend of a painter, tenant of this prestigious abbey. Some elderly inhabitants of the village certify having seen, when they were children, this "Russian lady with a moustache" walking in the streets of the village with her partner. The Russian lady is supposed to have been secretly buried somewhere in the grounds of the abbey….
MEN PORTRAITS _____________________ Delusions of grandeur
Scipione Pulzone detto Il Gaetano (1550-1598) Portrait of Jacopo Boncompagni (1574). The Fritz Collection, New York
The figure represented here is Jacopo Boncompagni, who is none other than the natural son of a pope, in this case: Gregory XIII. Jacopo Boncompagni moved to Rome in 1572 as soon as his father was elected pope and at the same time became governor of Castel Sant'Angelo and head of the papal army. He was a newcomer to noble Roman society, whose families boasted of an ancient imperial ancestry. This portrait in armour was therefore intended to make his rank clearly known and to spread his appearance among those who had never seen him. Although armour was already less and less used at this time on the battlefield, it continued to be considered a symbol of virility, military value, wealth, social status and, above all, antique lineage, which this son of the Pope shamelessly claimed! The figure of Saint Michael engraved on the breastplate of the armour is not only a reference to the Castel Sant'Angeo but also to the role of Boncompagni himself as protector of the Church: "The Archangel of the Church is me!" is what this engraved figure is meant to convey ... Jacopo's place in the Delusions of Grandeur was therefore not usurped! His military skills, meanwhile, are represented by the god Mars on the helmet and by the steel glove placed on the table next to the helmet. On the golden bands which hold the plastron and the protections of the shoulders and arms, several trophies are represented, attesting to the military prowess of the model. In the same spirit of demonstration of Boncompagni's military prowess, we see along the central strip of the plastron and at the base of the helmet, representations of captive Turks, commemorating the recent victory over the Ottomans at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. In addition to these martial motifs, this prodigious sculpted armour (a work of art in itself!) also includes symbols attesting to the character's wealth, prosperity and eminent status, such as horns of plenty and grotesque figures carrying jars of fruit.
The braghetta (where the French word "braguette" comes from) was also meant to convey to the viewer of the Renaissance the power of the character. This marked protuberance was intended to enhance the wearer's manly member and thereby his supposed ability to govern. Until the 1580s, the fly became more and more voluminous among princes and kings, while among the peasants, they were less showy or even non-existent. Not very fraternal for the peasants ... and obviously shamefully false! "Whether it is Charles V, painted by Le Titien, François I by the Clouets or Maximilien II by Antonio Moro ... We stuff the famous pocket. We match it by the doublet. It is decorated with ribbons, gilding, jewels. And we lodge there, alongside its attributes, handkerchief, change, and even fruits that we ripen to offer them, very lukewarm to ladies! »* Bon appétit ! * Colette Gouvion : « Une histoire politique du pantalon »
MEN PORTRAITS _____________________ Delusions of grandeur
A delegation of Indians from the Sioux and Arapaho tribes who came to meet President Hayes in 1877 in Washington.. Standing: Joe Merrivale, Young Spotted Tail, Antoine Janis. Sitting From left to right : Touch-the-Clouds and Arapho chefs: Sharp Nose, Black Coal and Worshinun. The United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division
Touch the Clouds (c.1838-1905) (first on the left in the photo) was a chief of the Minneconjou tribe Teton Lakota better known today under the name of "Sioux". Touch the Clouds was famous for his bravery, combat skills, physical strength and diplomatic advice. Youngest son of Lone Horn, he was brother of Spotted Elk, Frog and Roman Nose! He was also probably a cousin of the famous chief Crazy Horse. In 1875, after the death of his father, he assumed the leadership of his tribe during the first part of the Great Sioux War (1876-1877). After the Battle of Little Bighorn, he led his tribe north, then went to the Spotted Tail Agency, where he was drafted as an Indian Scout. Shortly after Crazy Horse's death, Touch the Clouds was transferred with his entire tribe to the authority of the Cheyenne River Agency. In his long life as Grand Chief Sioux, he managed to meet the American President, but neither he nor the other members of the delegation were photographed with him.
MEN PORTRAITS _____________________ Delusions of grandeur
Carl Larsson (1853-1919) Male figure, 1914
Carl Olof Larsson was a Swedish artist, draftsman, illustrator, painter of frescos, interior decorator. Paradoxically, the very varied styles of this francophile painter could easily support his family and allow him to keep his independence of thought while affirming unconventional values. He became, much like Gaudi in Spain, the painter dreamed of by the Swedish bourgeoisie.
MEN PORTRAITS _____________________ Delusions of grandeur
Corneille de Lyon (1500-1575) Portrait of Anne de Montmorency, 1533 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Mass.)
Duke and peer in 1551, Anne de Montmorency became one of the most powerful lords of France, having nearly 600 fiefs. Lover of the arts, he protected both Bernard Palissy, and Jean Bullant, the architect of his two castles of Chantilly and Écouen. The château d'Écouen can itself symbolise the man that Anne de Montmorency was: both a strategic and imposing fortress, but also a palace of the arts inspired by the greatest architectural works in Italy. Under the reign of Henri II (1547-1559), of whom Anne de Montmorency was the mentor, he met Philibert Delorme who worked for the king on the castles of Saint-Maur, Anet and Meudon. In 1525, Anne was taken prisoner with King Francis I in Pavia. Released for ransom, he negotiated the Treaty of Madrid (1526) and ended the war between François Ier and Charles V. To thank him, the mother of King François 1er offered him the Château de Fère-en-Tardenois for his marriage with Madeleine de Savoie. With his wife Madeleine de Savoie, Anne de Montmorency had 12 children. Two of his great-grandsons were eminent military leaders in the service of France: Marshal Turenne (1611-1675) and the Grand Condé (1621-1686). Point of interest in the History of France, a chateau fort on a hill is indicated in Fère as early as 958. From 1206, Robert de Dreux, the brother of the king and Louis VII his son, begin to build a fortress here whose construction was completed in 1260. The castle then passed to the first house of Valois-Orléans. From 1528, Constable Anne de Montmorency had it transformed, adding the large covered bridge, attributed to architect Jean Bullant. The Crown confiscated it after the torture of Henri II de Montmorency before returning it soon after to Charlotte de Montmorency, wife of the Prince de Condé. It thus passed to the younger branch of the Condé, the princes of Conti, then to the Duke of Orleans, father of Philippe Égalité. Without any qualms or remorse, the latter partially demolished this architectural wonder of the Renaissance in 1779 and sold the materials and the furniture at an auction. His creditors seized what remained and sold it at auction in Paris in 1793. Nowadays, the ruins are protected and belong to the Departmental Council while the stables house a luxury hotel….
MEN PORTRAITS _____________________ Delusions of grandeur
Al Capone playing the banjo during his first incarceration in 1929 Anonymous photographer .
This photo was taken in the cell of the famous chief of the American mafia, Al Capone (1899-1947), also known as Scarface, during his very first incarceration. Dead peacefully in his bed although a bit eaten away by syphilis - at the age of 48, this American gangster made a fortune from the smuggling of contraband alcohol during the prohibition but also in the organisation of illegal gambling dens, prostitution, blackmail and ransom…. This delightful character who did not have only friends, had to settle a terrible gang war in 1929 which he finally resolved during a punitive expedition known by the explicit name of the Saint Valentine Massacre. After this episode, Capone reigned supreme over Chicago ... but unlike most other gang leaders, he did not feel satisfied until he killed everyone
who had not pledged allegiance to him. This massacre on Valentine's Day had a perverse effect on public opinion: Capone, who until then had benefited from the good image of one who fought in the name of the people against prohibition, a sort of Robin Hood of the bottle, suddenly appeared as a threat and became public enemy number 1. It was at this point that his arrest, the first, was arranged. To calm public opinion, which had risen considerably following the Valentine's Day Massacre, it was decided to impose a sentence of at least… one year in prison! Al Capone graciously accepted what he actually considered "shelter" because many "contracts" had been made on his life! The photo opposite was just as arranged as his arrest, not to say shamefully tampered with !!! If it represents a cell of the State
Penitentiary in Philadelphia, with its blistered paintings, the comparison with the cell that Capone actually occupied ends there. In fact, another photo below shows the real cell that Capone had made for himself with bribes, a cell with carpet, old furniture, small lamps with pretty lampshades and separate toilets. Nothing to do with the chipped toilet in the photo. Did he play the banjo or ukulele there? The mystery remains
MEN PORTRAITS _____________________ Delusions of grandeur
In 1886, Victoria, Queen of England and Empress of India, commissioned Swoboda to paint a group of Indian artisans whom she had invited to Windsor. The queen appreciated Swoboda's work so much that she paid him to travel to India to paint portraits of its inhabitants. Queen Victoria had given Swoboda very direct instructions: "The sketches that Her Majesty wishes will represent the different types of nationalities that make up the Indies. They must consist of heads the same size as those already made for The Queen, as well as small standing portraits. Her Majesty does not want the images to be too large, and rather suggests that you bring back sketches from which you will paint your paintings after your return. " When Queen Victoria received the paintings, she was very satisfied with them and considered them "such beautiful heads ... beautiful things". Swoboda then worked for the Queen for eleven years, producing more than 40 portraits of her South Asian subjects, which are kept today at Osborne House. and in the collections of the Royal Trust. On his return from the Indies, Swoboda also painted for the Queen a portrait of Mohammed Abdul Karim known as The Munshi, who remained famous in history for having been the Indian favorite of Queen Victoria. Mohammed Abdul Karim, born in 1863 in Lalitpur in British India and deceased in April 1909 near Agra in India, known as "the Munshi", was an Indian
Rudolf Swoboda Jr. (1859-1914) Hafiz Mohammed Abdul Karim, nicknamed The Munshi Servant of Queen Victoria The Royal Trust Collection ,
Muslim employee of the Queen, who won the affection of the sovereign during the last fifteen years of her reign. In 1887, the year of the Queen's Golden Jubilee, he was one of two Indians chosen to become her servant. Victoria came to take a great interest in him and gave him the title of "Munshi", a HindiUrdu word often translated as "clerk" or "teacher". She appointed him her private secretary, covered him with honours and obtained for him the lifetime concession of an estate in India. The close relationship between Karim and the Queen led to friction within the Court, among the members who considered themselves superior to him. The queen pretended to hear nothing about all this and on the contrary insisted that Karim be present with her during each of her trips. This relationship was even the subject of heated discussions between the Queen and her ministers who she would not allow to interfere. After Victoria's death in 1901, her successor, Edward VII, sent Karim back to India, not without having previously ordered the confiscation and destruction of the correspondence with his mother. Karim then lived quietly near Agra, on the property that Victoria had assigned him, until his death at the age of 46. A film was recently made of this extraordinary and probably platonic love story ...
MEN PORTRAITS _____________________ Delusions of grandeur
In 1886, his body deformed by the alcohol and sweets he consumed without moderation, Louis II was photographed by Joseph Albert.
Louis II of Bavaria by Ferdinand von Piloty (1865) Bayerische Staatsgemaldesammlungen,
If anyone still embodies "delusions of grandeur" in everyone's eyes, it is he, Ludwig Otto Friedrich Wilhelm von Wittelsbach, better known as Ludwig II of Bavaria (1845-1886). Dead at the age of 41, he incarnates all the fantasies and excesses of the 19th century. Eccentric character, to such an extent that he was considered and declared mad, he left a legacy which is today the heyday of German tourism! He notably ordered the construction of several large castles and palaces such as Herrenchiemsee, replica of the Palace of Versailles or Linderhof stuffed with extravagant gadgets (including a retractable table in the floorffor once the meal is finished) or the most famous of all Neuschwanstein, a grand Gothic folly intended to make people forget the suppression of the Holy Empire. Louis II was also the sole patron of the composer Richard Wagner, for whom he built the Festspielhaus (Festival Palace) in Bayreuth desired by the composer to specifically perform his works there. In his exalted vision of the monarchy, Louis II readily took himself for Parsifal, hero of the Sagas, who became the guardian of the Grail because of the purity of his soul. From 1871, the king allocated most of Bavarian finances as well as then his personal fortune to his expensive artistic and architectural projects, which made him fall out of favour with the German chancellor Otto von Bismarck. The king's psychiatrist, Bernhard von Gudden, pointed out the heredity responsible for his patient, both on the Wittelsbach side and on the Hohenzollern maternal side, where many cases of madness were publicly known. Declared "mentally insane", Louis II was interned on June 12, 1886 in the castle of Berg, south of Munich. He died the day after his incarceration, together with his psychiatrist, during a stroll after dinner on the lake in the castle's park. Many hypotheses were raised, including that of suicide ... which does not seem to be plausible, however. The king is said to have died as a result of the freezing lake water when he tried to escape from the boat after a heated conversation with his psychiatrist. The hypothesis of an assassination was also raised without ever having been proven…. Of this deeply romantic king who only knew how to govern with operas, improbable castles and extravagance, Jacques Bainville wrote: "He conceived life as a spectacle of
which he pretended to regulate the details as he pleased, being the unique spectator". According to Paul Verlaine:
"He was the only and greatest king of this century."
MEN PORTRAITS _____________________ Delusions of grandeur
The Ten Commandments, by Cecil B. de Mille Paramount Pictures, 1956 Yul Brynner dans le rôle du Pharaon Ramses II ,
Did he have Mongolian and Gypsy ancestry? Was he really called Taidje Khan? Was he born in 1915 or 1920? On the island of Sakhalin or on the mainland, at the eastern tip of Russia? Until his death Yuli Borissovitch Bryner dit Yul Brynner continued to feed the legend of his origins, so that these remained for a long time shrouded in a mystery carefully kept alive by the actor and his Hollywood producers. More likely the son of an engineer of Swiss descent and a Jewish mother from the Russian intelligentsia, granddaughter of a doctor converted to orthodoxy, the actor is thought to have been born in Vladivostok in 1920. After his father abandoned the family home in 1927, the young Yuli followed his mother to China, in Harbin (Manchuria), where he and his sister attended a YMCA school. In 1934, the family emigrated to Europe and settled in Paris. To earn a living, the young man sang and played the guitar at night in cabarets, bonding in particular with the gypsy musicians whom he accompanied at night, notably Chez Raspoutine. Then he was a trapeze artist at the Cirque d'Hiver, then - after a serious fall - a machinist and actor at the Théâtre des Mathurins, at that time directed by George Pitoëff. In 1941, a new start… this time in the United States, where the future French-speaking actor, first worked as a speaker for the US Office of War Information, which broadcast programs in French to occupied France. He also studied theater, posed as a model and began to perform on Broadway under the pseudonym Youl Brynner. In 1949, he made his cinema debut, but it was in 1951 that success came with The king and I, a musical in which he interpreted the role of the king of Siam. In 1956, Yul Brynner had another huge success in a Paramount production: The Ten Commandments directed by Cecil B. de Mille, and in Anastasia with Ingrid Bergman. Regarding the Ten Commandments, legend has it that Yul Brynner was so concerned about his presence on the screen alongside Charlton Heston that he required an intensive bodybuilding program! After the success of the Ten Commandments in which he played the role of Pharaoh Ramses II (above), he continued to collaborate on a few biblical peplums and a large number of exotic adventure films or even westerns. Among the most famous: Solomon and the Queen of Sheba in 1959, The Seven Mercenaries in 1960, Taras Boulba in 1962 and Les Rois du soleil in 1963. From 1964, he shaved his eyebrows, which had the effect of masking his real age, when certain media and cinema people claimed that he was already over 60.
MEN PORTRAITS _____________________ Delusions of grandeur
Elector Max Emmanuel of Bavaria. Gilded sculpture in the apartments of the Abbot of Ottobeuren, circa 1730 .
Son of Elector Ferdinand-Marie and Henriette-Adelaïde of Savoy, Max Emmanuel of Bavaria (1662-1726) is the grandson of Emperor Ferdinand II of Austria and great-grandson of King Henry IV of France. Elector of Bavaria, first Elector of the Holy Empire and Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, it seems superfluous to specify that delusions of grandeur were inscribed as much in his education as in his genes! He was only 17 when his powerful cousins Louis XIV (France) and Leopold I (Austria) competed to extend their influence over him. On October 9, 1685, when he married the daughter of the Austrian Emperor, Maria Antonia, her dowry included rights to the Spanish succession. For this sumptuous wedding, a Grande Cantata was ordered from Marc-Antoine Charpentier, cantata which explicitly bears the name of the spouses in its title. Dead in childbirth at the age of 23, Maria Antonia was quickly replaced by the daughter of the king of Poland, Thérèse-Cunégonde Sobieska, who gave him numerous offspring. Tireless patron of the arts and avowed epicurean, he spent a few months in Suresnes giving sumptuous parties in his castle and commissioning several musical works for his personal orchestra whose instruments came from the suppliers to the court of France, notably Pierre Naust Maximilien-Emmanuel de Bavière painted by Joseph Vivien (1657-1734) Schleißheim State Gallery
in Paris. An avid collector, he acquired a collection of 101 paintings, including 12 paintings by Pierre-Paul Rubens, which today form part of the collection of the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. Max Emmanuel spent the last years of his life continuing to build two castles, Schleissheim and Fürstenried. In 1726, he died of a very classic stroke, not without taking care to have his heart enshrined in a silver reliquary deposited in the Gnadenkapelle of Altötting where everyone can now not actually see it but at least admire the reliquary !
MEN PORTRAITS _____________________ Delusions of grandeur
Emile Friant Self-portrait at the age of 15
Émile Friant was born in Moselle into a modest family. His father was a locksmith and his mother a dressmaker. Gifted for drawing, barely adolescent, he asked his parents to send him to study art. They couldn't afford it. Fortunately, a wealthy client of Emile’s mother, Madame Parisot, offered to send him to study fine arts. Between 1874 and 1879, Émile Friant was attended the School of Fine Arts in Nancy. He was only 15 years old when he exhibited for the first time at the Salon de Nancy. This self-portrait as well as other works were immediately noticed. A critic of the Progress of the East notes the precocity of his talent: "Being already yourself when you are still a student, seeing nature in an original way when you barely leave the benches is the best prognosis. " In 1883, Emile Friant won the Second Grand Prix of Rome with a painting entitled Oedipus Curses his Son Polynice. In 1885, he met Constant Coquelin (1841-1909), one of the greatest French actors of the time who initiated in 1897 the role of Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand. Coquelin took over from Ms. Parisot and became one of Emile Friant's main patrons. The consecration came quickly. In 1889 - he was 26 years old - he presented La Toussaint at the Salon des Beaux-arts. This huge 3.34 × 2.54 meter painting won the special price at the Salon and, in the same year, the gold medal at the Universal Exhibition in Paris. Friant was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour. His success could not be denied, although the enthusiasm he aroused gradually cooled in the 20th century with the success of Impressionism, Fauvism and Cubism whose movements he would never follow. Trained in painting by Cabanel, Emile Friant remained attached to him. His evolution could be characterised in two words: loyalty and freedom. Faithful to his youth as a child of the working class, he devoted himself in particular to genre scenes where popular circles are often present. An accomplished sportsman, he was among the first to describe the world of wrestlers, canoeists and swimmers ... The aesthetic dictates of innovators did not concern him. He observed and was at times inspired but didn't not line up. He also remained above all a studio painter. He used photography to paint portraits exactly as hyper-realists did at the end of the 20th century. When the world of painting swore by fauvism, he went on to printmaking, thus making use of his exceptional talent as a draftsman.
MEN PORTRAITS _____________________ Delusions of grandeur
Amenoteph IV (c. 1371 / -1365 and dead c. -1338 / -1337) or Amenophis IV in ancient Greek, better known as Akhenaton (or Khounaton) was the 10th pharaoh of the 18th dynasty. Controversial figure, still admired or hated, sometimes considered as one of the great mystics of history, he upset, during the very short period of his reign, the history of Ancient Egypt by wanting to impose monotheism on a civilisation which had hundreds of different gods! This unique God of whom he was at the same time the prophet, the disciple and the only incarnation was called ReHorakhty, meaning "who is in Aton". The stinging failure of his selfcentered religious reform and the very violent conservative reaction that ensued on the part of the caste of the Egyptian high priests, condemned Akhenaton to almost total oblivion until the end of the 19th century.
1. Amenoteph IV - Akhenaton Museum of Egyptian Antiquities Luxor Egypt 2. Supposed skull of Akhenaton. . ,
Considered heretical by the generation which succeeded him, most of his representations and that of his wife the very beautiful Queen Nefertiti, were destroyed or disfigured, his engraved documents were passed under the hammer, his mummy dispersed, his memory cursed. His centrism on the religious level accompanied by a colossal inertia on the political level further precipitated the fall of the XVIIIth dynasty. His very ambitious failed religious reform, however, was accompanied by a new aesthetic, both baroque and naturalist known as Amarnian Art, contrasting with Egyptian art which had remained frozen for millennia. Royal imagery set an example by representing for the first time the god-pharaoh and his family in their intimacy. From a stylistic point of view, the faces are emaciated and mysterious, the royal codes simplified to the extreme ...
In 1910, the Egyptologist Arthur Weigall, in his first biography (very criticized today), sees in Akhenaton a precursor of Christ:
"No religion around the world is as close to Christianity as the faith of Akhenathon" . The list of romantic, haphazard, eccentric, even delusional interpretations (some even seeing him as an extraterrestrial!) of Akhenaton's personality did not stop growing in the 20th century until several thousand works were dedicated to him. In 1939, Sigmund Freud also took an interest in his controversial esoteric work "The Moses man and the monotheistic religion", which he began in 1910 but was not published until his death ... What we can safely say is that if Delusions of Grandeur must have an incarnation: Akhenaton is the ideal candidate! ... And that he has every chance of winning !!!
MEN PORTRAITS _____________________ Delusions of grandeur
Jean-Étienne Liotard (1702-1789) Portrait of a Grand Vizir of Ottoman Empire, Hekimoğlu Ali Pasha .National Gallery London
The National Gallery in London wondered a lot about this painting: "The costume corresponds well to that of a grand vizier, but the person who wears it may not be the grand vizier but rather an ordinary Turk. This painting had also previously been identified as a portrait of Edward Wortley Montagu (1713-1776) and as well as a possible selfportrait of Liotard in exotic costume. ” Would one of the two men - the painter Liotard or the ambassador Edward Wortley Montagu - have liked to be Grand Vizier in the Grand Vizier's place? Perhaps not acceptable, but very human and therefore very common ... moreover later in a famous comic strip, it is the Grand Vizier who will want to be Caliph instead of the Caliph! A story of endless ambition !!! But to return to this portrait, who lied? A painting painted in 1775 by Matthew William Peter and kept at the National Portrait Gallery in London shows (top left) Edward Wortley Montagu in an oriental costume. No wonder! His role as ambassador to the Sublime Porte (Turkey for simplicity!) predisposed him to oriental disguise and his career as a somewhat spy traveler could not be successfully carried out without a minimum of 'clothing effects' ... The fact remains that this gentleman did not look much like the portrait of Liotard! As for Liotard himself (bottom left) who traveled a lot in Europe and the Middle East to the point of being nicknamed the "Turkish painter", he arrived in Constantinople in 1738 and lived there for 4 years, realising on the spot many drawings and pastels of oriental subjects. Another portrait of the Grand Vizier (on the right in thumbnail) shows that, if the costume is the same as that of the portrait by Liotard (although the tulip hairstyle is even more extravagant), the character who is inside the costume, on the other hand, is not at all the same !!! So who was this Grand Vizier who didn't look like his model? A sort of publicity for a Grand Vizier , painted with an affable face, more acceptable for its time?
MEN PORTRAITS _____________________ Delusions of grandeur
Pietro Tacca et Lodovico Salvetti Menelas carrying Patroclus Loggia dei Lanzi, Firenze
The loggia dei Lanzi in Piazza della Signoria in Florence has a famous sculpted group called Menelas carrying the body of Patroclus. This is a 17th century artistic reconstruction by Pietro Tacca and Lodovico Salvetti based on an ancient bust of the 3rd century BC discovered in Rome in the 15th century and called the Pasquino, visible in Piazza Pasquino in Rome. Without waiting for the sculptural representations, we can, through ancient authors like Homer, have a fairly precise idea of the physical appearance of Menelas. These testimonies describe a look as impressive as that of most Greek heroes. Anténor remembers him when he came to Troy with Ulysses and describes him in these terms: “When the two mingled with the assembled Trojans, Menelas was larger; but, if they sat down, Ulysses seemed to be the most majestic. " Homer insists on the blondness of his hair, so much so that in the whole of the Iliad and the Odyssey, it is the epithet which recurs most frequently. His long hair, like other Greeks, looks like a lion's mane. Homer also evokes the "strong thighs" and the "beautiful ankles" of Menelas which he compares to ivory, and insists on his warlike character: "loved by Ares", "good at launching the war cry", "famous for his spear", "the valiant". His voice is also described as having a certain strength, his battle cry being described as "renowned". He expressed himself well and clearly but without reaching the eloquence of Ulysses. Patroclus is one of the most famous Greek warriors of the Trojan War described in the Iliad.
In the story by Homer Patroclus “Ménœtiade” he is presented as the intimate friend of Achilles and also as his cousin who accompanies him to Troy. When the Trojans threaten to invade the Greek camp, he manages, for a time, to rout the enemy, climbing the walls and bravely killing several warriors, including Sarpedon, one of the sons of Zeus ... but three times he meets Apollo on his way who throws him from his chariot. Finally he is mortally wounded by Euphorbia who delivers him dying into the hands of Hector. `Hector finishes him off a lance in his back and strips him of his weapons. Faced with such carnage and such relentlessness, Menelas and Ajax the Great try to protect the body of Patroclus before returning it to Achilles. This is the subject of the sculpture opposite. Destroyed by pain of his loss, Achilles then decides to take up arms to avenge his friend Patroclus, without worrying about the danger. From the fifth century before the Christian era, the two young people became a symbol of homosexual relations, a symbol which Alexander the Great and Hephæstion would claim, for example. Plato praised Patroclus' courage.
MEN PORTRAITS _____________________ Delusions of grandeur
Gaspard de Gueidan (1688-1767), senior magistrate of the parliament of Provence, was a notable known for his ridiculous vanity. After having acquired the office of senior magistrate, ambition drove Gaspard de Gueidan to reach for the high nobility. In May 1752, on land which he had recently acquired at high cost, he managed to obtain the title the Marquisate de Gueidan. But Gaspard de Gueidan was not satisfied with this situation, he wanted to erase traces of his cattle merchant ancestors and for that he invented others whom he traced back to Bertrand, Count of Forcalquier. He went so far as to seize the book The Heroic and Universal History of the Provençal Nobility published in Avignon in 1757 and to have his pseudo-acsendency inserted therein as far back as the Count of Forcalquier. The hoax did not go unnoticed and in the 1760s several local popular songs ridiculed the claims of Gaspard de Gueidan. This didn't effect him overly and he saw in this mockery the hand of his enemies manipulating the populace. It was then that he acquired the Convent of the Observantins, a chapel in Aix-en-Provence in which he installed a mausoleum around 1757 in memory of Guillaume de Gueidan, mythical founder before 1208 of his supposedly noble family. The recumbent figure in the mausoleum, sculpted by Jean-Pancrace Chastel, renowned artist at that time, is covered with a suit of
Hyacinthe Rigaud (1659- 1743) Gaspard de Gueidan (1688-1767) Musée Granet, Aix-en-Provence
armour that evokes the 16th century rather than the Middle Ages and resting at his feet is a recumbent lion. During the Revolution, the Observantins convent was closed and the mausoleum returned to the family who donated it in 1836 to the Granet Museum. Obsessively conceited, seen by today's standards, many saw in his personality the true incarnation of the Bourgeois Gentleman who may have inspired Molière. Dabbling in philosophy, music and dance, always with the best teachers of the moment, his escapades greatly amused the Court of Louis XIV. He even aspired for a moment to entering the newly created French Academy. Cruelly, the courtiers let him do it. His candidacy was the laughing stock of Paris at a time which was in fact more unforgiving than the Paris of the 20th century. He never entered under the Dome but even better ... never understood why! Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, in all his ridiculous splendour! His portrait was painted twice by Hyacinthe Rigaud, in 1719 then in 1734 (opposite), for a commission delivered in 1738. Hyacinthe Rigaud is considered one of the most famous French portrait painters of the classical period. In the portrait above, in the background of which appears a magnificent Sainte-Victoire mountain, the painter willingly demonstrates the self importance and ridiculousness of the model who seems to surprise even his dog!
MEN PORTRAITS _____________________ Delusions of grandeur
Giuseppe Castiglione (1688–1766) Equestrian portrait of the Chinese Emperor Qianlong in ceremonial armour, 1758 The Palace Museum, Beijing
Giuseppe Castiglione, was an Italian Jesuit missionary in China and painter at the Imperial Court. In 1716 he took the Chinese name of Lang Shining (郎世宁 / 郎世寧) which means Man of the Quiet World. Strict respect for etiquette (never offensive, nor direct criticism of Chinese ideas) allowed him to become one of the cohort of painters accredited to the Imperial Court of China, a privilege very rare especially for a westerner. He trained other Jesuit artists to adopt the same approach as he and he also had a large number of Chinese students who became famous. His faculty for artistic compromise between Western realism and the spiritualism of Chinese art (avoiding shadows, adopting Chinese secondary motifs) is the source of the artistic synthesis which assured him recognition by three successive emperors of the Qing dynasty as the best artist of their painting studios. The Chinese Emperor Qianlong had a long reign of over 60 years, which he voluntarily interrupted so as not to reign longer than his illustrious ancestor Kangxi. Emperor Qianlong brought China to its peak and extended its borders further than anyone before him. Mongolia, Tibet, Nepal, Burma ... all recognized themselves as tributaries of the "Son of Heaven" (very modest nickname of the Emperor) and agreed to pay him a heavy tribute and to practice ritual prostration, the kotow, in his presence. The emperor, Qialong was not only a conqueror, he was also and above all a scholar, a philosopher, a painter and a poet, showing, like his grandfather, a great affection for the Jesuit scientists and artists who surrounded him. In order to retain their posts they all formally renewed the ban on the preaching of Catholicism in China. This paradox, which seems difficult to conceive of today, succeeded in ensuring fruitful relations between the West and China, proof both of the Emperor's great diplomatic intelligence and of the Jesuits' open-mindedness. Inside the border, Qianlong maintained order, mainly relying on Confucian scholars and Mandarins, senior officials recruited on the basis of literary competitions. These measures, combined with a slight global warming and better harvests, led to a rapid population increase, an obvious sign of prosperity: according to official censuses, the Chinese population increased from 60 million in 1578 to 105 million in 1661, 182 million in 1766 and 330 million in 1872. (...) Towards the end of his reign, Qianlong transferred much his power to a favorite, Heshen, a former soldier whose beauty had captivated him. As an all powerful minister, Heshen allowed the cancer of corruption to develop throughout the administration. A new emperor, Jiaqing ,forced him to commit suicide soon after Qianlong's death.
MEN PORTRAITS _____________________ Delusions of grandeur
Vincenzo Catena (1470-1531) Portrait of the Doge Andrea Gritti (c. 1523-31) Oil on canvas, 97.2 x 79.4 cm ) National Gallery, London
ndrea Gritti (1455-1538) was elected Doge, that is to say chief of the Serenissima Republic of Venice, in 1523. This painting was probably carried out shortly there after. He wears his official Doge costume and on a finger of his left hand, a gold ring representing the Doge kneeling before Saint Mark, the patron saint of Venice. This portrait by Catena successfully expresses the power, authority and greatness of the Doge Gritti, whose military and diplomatic career was extremely brilliant. His face is depicted almost in profile on a dark background, like the profile of a king on a medal. He seems to be looking towards someone who is outside the frame while making us a sign with his right hand whose pointed finger could be a rhetorical gesture, recalling his skills as a politician. The Dogat was a position for life which gave the power to decide war and peace, to command the armies, to appoint civil and ecclesiastical functions, to preside over the senate ... but the Doge could not take any resolution without the consent of the Council of Ten. Money was minted in the name of the Doge, but not with his arms; he could not choose a wife elsewhere than in Venice. Upon assuming his functions he presided over a ceremony which officially married him to the Adriatic sea, a usage which emphasised the extent of the Venetian control over the world's seas. The first Doge was Paolo Lucio Anafesto in 697. The 120th and last Doge, Ludovico Manin, was in exercise when the Republic of Venice was conquered by the French armies in 1797.
MEN PORTRAITS _____________________ Delusions of grandeur
Bernard Boutet de Monvel (1881-1949) H.R.H the Maharadjah of Indore, 1933
Maharajadhiraj Raj Rajeshwar Sawai Shri Yeshwant Rao II Holkar XIV Bahadur 1 (1908-1961) was a Maharaja of Indore belonging to the Marathi dynasty of Holkar. Endowed with an immense fortune made up notably of sumptuous jewels, like the famous "pears of Indore" which he wears in this painting attached to a necklace of two rows of pearls, Yeshwant Rao traveled extensively and often stayed in Europe and in France where he owned two properties, one in Villefranche-sur-Mer and the other near Fontainebleau. Advised by his friend Henri-Pierre Roché, with whom he was part of the "tout Paris" of the inter-war period, he purchased luxurious cars and lived between two liners passing from Cannes to Cuba, Los Angeles, New York or even Peru … He became interested in modern art and had Indore build a palace, Manik Bagh (Ruby Garden), designed by the German architect Eckart Muthesius and furnished by the greatest designers of modern European art such as Ruhlmann, Sognot , Eilen Gray, Le Corbusier, Herbst, Da Silva, Bruhns and Puiforcat. The Maharaja also purchased a black marble version of the Brancusi Bird. n 1928, he bought the Château d'Hennemont in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, where his father lived, and called it Château Holkar. The Holkar dynasty began with Malhar Rao who joined the Peshwa service in 1721, ruled Indaur (Indore) in India as Rajas Marathe then Maharaja. The Holkar were one of the most prestigious dynasties in India whose name was associated with the very title of the ruler, called Maharaja Holkar or Holkar Maharaja, the official title being "Maharajadhiraj Raj Rajeshwar Sawai Shri (name) Holkar Bahadur, Maharaja of Indore, or just the colonial style of "His Highness ”. A heavy cigar and cigarette smoker, Yeshwant Rao died of cancer in a Bombay hospital on December 5, 1961. He left a son, Richard Shivaji Rao Holkar Maharajkumar Shrimant Bahadur born in 1944, but excluded from the succession due to the irregular marriage of his parents, and a daughter, Rani Maharanidhiraja Rajeshwar Sawai Shrimant Usha Devi Maharaj Sahib Akhand Soubhagyavati Holkar, born on 20 October 1933 in Paris, who inherited all his titles and possessions. The worldly painter Bernard Boutet de Monvel already enjoyed great notoriety when the Maharajah called on him to produce several portraits, first in 1929 and then in 1933 (opposite) as well as two portraits of his wife. In 1934 he exhibited portraits of the Maharani and Maharajah of Indore in court costumes at the Wildenstein gallery in New York.
The Indore pears are two very large white diamonds of 46.95 and 46.70 carats which, as their name suggests, are pear shaped. Part of the treasure of the Maharajas of Indore since the 18th century, they were worn by Maharadj Rao II Holkar XIV Bahadur 1 (opposite), then by his daughter in law Maharani Shamista Davi Holkar, wife of Maharaja of Indore Tukoji Rao III. The latter, following his divorce, abdicated and married the American Nancy Ann Miller, to whom this generous lord left them, these excellent good pears, as a separation gift! They are now in a private American collection.
MPS MEN PORTRAITS SERIES
n°1 English text
That’s it… For the moment … Because with MPS nothing ever ends… Surprises from the blog will soon enhance these thematic series… menportraits.blogspot.com © Francis Rousseau 2011-2020 Translation : Anne Menuhin
