DOMENICO DUPRÀ Lot n° 46

(Turin, 1689 - 1770) Half-length portrait of a gentleman, wearing a gray silk jacket, embroidered vest and a red cloak Oil on canvas, 77X61.5 cm Provenance: Bernard Combemale Collection London, Christie's, October 6, 1994, lot 26 Italy, private collection The artist's training took place in Rome in the workshop of Francesco Trevisani and then moved to Portugal summoned by King John V of Braganza as court portrait painter who, on his discharge, rewarded him with no less than eleven and a half kilograms of gold (Carvalho, 1958). The works of these years express a style of international, Roman taste, but also attentive to French fashion. Between 1730 and 1750 we know the artist again in the Eternal City before moving to the Savoy court, thanks to the interest of Cardinal Alessandro Albani. In Rome Duprà was the portrait painter of the most important families, maintaining close relations with the cardinal aristocracy and the exiled kings James III Stuart and Clementina Sobieska. Returning to the canvas under consideration, he finds striking similarities with the gentleman's portrait signed and dated 1741 published by Busiri Vici (fig. 19), which the scholar compares to Stuard portraits in terms of its setting and 'vivid expressive gaze.' Reference Bibliography: A. de Carvalho, Domenico Duprà. royal portrait painter to various European courts, in Connoisseur Year-book, 1958, pp. 78-85 A. Busiri Vici, Portraits in Rome by Domenico Duprà, in L'Urbe, XI, 1977, 2, pp. 1-16 S. Rudolph, La pittura del '700 a Roma, Milan 1983, fig. 248 Court Art in Turin from Charles Emmanuel III to Charles Felix, Turin 1987, pp. 72-75 S. Ghisotti, in Painting in Italy. Il Settecento, II, Milan 1990, p. 705