Bust of Francesco Bernardi called Senesino (1686 - 1756).
Terracotta.
c 1735.
Louis Francois Roubiliac.
Metropolitan Museum, New York.
Purchased 2016.
and the Lead Bust on the London Art Market in 2012 formerly (and wrongly) identified by me as Senesino.
Metropolitan Museum, New York.
Purchased 2016.
and the Lead Bust on the London Art Market in 2012 formerly (and wrongly) identified by me as Senesino.
Some time ago I wrote a blog entry regarding a lead portrait bust which I believed might be that of the castrato Opera singer Francesco Bernardi called Senesino.
See my blog post 24 January 2014 - http://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=Senesino
Whilst recently searching for something else I came across the photographs of the bust of Senesino now in the Metropolitan Museum, New York see below.
This bust had been purchased from the sculpture dealer Patricia Wengraf of London with a provenance of Maria Avanzati (Florence).
Elizabetta Avanzati also made a tantalizing reference in The Unpublished Senesino' to a pocket or account book still with the family in Siena, which was kept by the singer, noting amongst other things his expenses incurred in London before he left London in 1736 and his sitting to Roubiliac for his bust.
The contents of this pocket book should prove fascinating both to shed more light on Senesino and Artistic lives in the 1730's. I very much look forward to hearing more.
All being well the contents of this pocket book will be published when the Metropolitan Museum gets around to putting their researches into the public realm in 2018.
Senesino left directions in his will that a marble bust should be used on his funerary monument in the crypt of a local church - the Chiesa dell'Osservanza, in Siena which was destroyed during World War II.
The house that Senesino retired to and kept an Anglophile household
Palazzo Bernardi Avanzati
Via Montanini
Sienna.
_________________________
The Lead Bust formerly wrongly identified by myself as Senesino.
This bust had been purchased from the sculpture dealer Patricia Wengraf of London with a provenance of Maria Avanzati (Florence).
When researching the lead bust (illustrated below) I approached by e mail Elizabetta Avanzati in Siena who had contributed 'The Unpublished Senesino' in the Exhibition catalogue of March to October 2006 - 'Handel and the Castrati' about the Italian opera singers in London in the 18th Century, for the Handel House Museum in London.
Elizabetta Avanzati was a descendant of the Bernardi family and kept the family home in Sienna.
She responded that the bust could not have been of Senesino but not giving any reasons and so I consequently let the matter drop. She has since died.
The mysterious lead bust has been sold and as far as I know is now in a private collection.
Elizabetta Avanzati was a descendant of the Bernardi family and kept the family home in Sienna.
She responded that the bust could not have been of Senesino but not giving any reasons and so I consequently let the matter drop. She has since died.
The mysterious lead bust has been sold and as far as I know is now in a private collection.
Elizabetta Avanzati also made a tantalizing reference in The Unpublished Senesino' to a pocket or account book still with the family in Siena, which was kept by the singer, noting amongst other things his expenses incurred in London before he left London in 1736 and his sitting to Roubiliac for his bust.
The contents of this pocket book should prove fascinating both to shed more light on Senesino and Artistic lives in the 1730's. I very much look forward to hearing more.
All being well the contents of this pocket book will be published when the Metropolitan Museum gets around to putting their researches into the public realm in 2018.
Senesino left directions in his will that a marble bust should be used on his funerary monument in the crypt of a local church - the Chiesa dell'Osservanza, in Siena which was destroyed during World War II.
The house that Senesino retired to and kept an Anglophile household
Palazzo Bernardi Avanzati
Via Montanini
Sienna.
_________________________
The Lead Bust formerly wrongly identified by myself as Senesino.
The lead bust on display in London in 2012, formerlyidentified by me as possibly that of Senesino and currently tentatively identified here as Farinelli, now in a private collection.
Doubt still remains - this bust lacks the prominent mole on his right hand (proper) cheek seen in most of his portraits.
This is a very fine and rare mid 18th Century lead portrait bust - one of a very small group of this type of bust. See the very fine busts of Dr Salmon and his wife and another male bust in the Victoria and Albert Museum
In the past these busts have been attributed to John Cheere (1709 - 1787) younger brother of (Sir) Henry Cheere but so far to my knowledge very little evidence to their authorship has come to light.
__________________________________
Dimensions 61.6 x 54.8 x 22.7cms. Bust only.
Marble Socle - a replacement.
Photographs courtesy Metropolitan Museum New York
see - http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/697974
I am informed by Patricia Wengraf that this bust is not yet on public display but is due to be mounted when the Met opens its new English Gallery in 2018. I believe they will publish their researches into the bust illustrated above at that time.
Photographs courtesy Metropolitan Museum New York
see - http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/697974
I am informed by Patricia Wengraf that this bust is not yet on public display but is due to be mounted when the Met opens its new English Gallery in 2018. I believe they will publish their researches into the bust illustrated above at that time.
Francesco Bernardi called Senesino
with a book open of the music Giulio Cesare
After Thomas Hudson
Mezzotint
Engraved by Alexander van Haeken
Engraved by Alexander van Haeken
355 x 251 mm.
1735
British Museum
______________________________
(The painting by Hudson
has disappeared - last
mentioned in Hudson’s sale at Christies of 26 Feb 1785, the pair to this print of
Farinelli, by van Haeken after Lucy was engraved at the same time (see illustration below).
______________________________
Francesco Bernardi called Senesino.
by Elisha Kirkall.
after Joseph Goupy.
Mezzotint.
277 x 219 mm. (trimmed).
1727.
British Museum.
They say - The print is surely
the one advertised in the Daily Post, 19 May 1727: 'This Day is publish'd, A
curious Metzotinto print of Seigneur Senesino, the famous Italian Singer. Done
from the Original Picture by Mr. Jos. Goupy.
Sold by Mr. Regnier, Printseller in Newport-street the End of Long Acre.'
Note - Nicole Celeste Regnier was the third wife of Louis Francois Roubiliac
Married 1758 - 9.
Sold by Mr. Regnier, Printseller in Newport-street the End of Long Acre.'
Note - Nicole Celeste Regnier was the third wife of Louis Francois Roubiliac
Married 1758 - 9.
Francesco Bernardi called Senesino c. 1720.
_____________________________________
Portrait by John Vanderbank
Photographed by the author with grateful thanks to James Carleton Harris, the Seventh Earl of Malmsbury, Greywill House, near Basingstoke, Hampshire.
For Invaluable information on mid 18th Century Art Theatre and Music see
the Harris Family Papers.
For a very useful introduction to the subject see -
Music and Theatre in Handel's World, The Family Papers of James Harris 1732 - 1780 by Donald Burrows and Rosemary Dunhill published Oxford 2002.
_____________________________________
Carlo Broschi, called Farinelli (1705 - 82).
1735.
The engraving after Amiconi.
Farinelli.
Engraving by Wagner,
Engraving by Wagner,
1735.
After Amiconi.
..............................................
Portrait of Farinelli with the Music of Artaxerxes.
Alexander van Haeken after Charles Lucy.
Mezzotint.
355 x 253 mm.
1735.
British Museum.
..........................................
Engraved by Grignion.
after Amiconi.
19 x 15.5 cms.
Victoria and Albert Museum.
_______________________________
Miniature described by the V and A (I believe in error) as Carlo Broschi called Farenelli.
Christian Friederich Zinke.(1683/4 - 1767).
43 x 39 mm.
c. 1735.
Victoria and Albert Museum.
see - http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1301277/portrait-miniature-of-carlo-broschi-miniature-zincke-christian-friedrich/
This attribution by the V and A is an obvious mistake - the miniature below is very different but bears a close relationship to other portraits of the castrati singer note particularly the mole on left hand side of his face which appears on nearly all depictions of Farinelli.
If not Farinelli could it be Senesino?
I have not yet been in contact with the museum with reference to this miniature.
_____________________________________
see - http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1301277/portrait-miniature-of-carlo-broschi-miniature-zincke-christian-friedrich/
This attribution by the V and A is an obvious mistake - the miniature below is very different but bears a close relationship to other portraits of the castrati singer note particularly the mole on left hand side of his face which appears on nearly all depictions of Farinelli.
If not Farinelli could it be Senesino?
I have not yet been in contact with the museum with reference to this miniature.
_____________________________________
Farinelli (1705 - 82).
William Prewitt (various spellings) pupil of Zinke.
c. 1733 - 5.
Miniature Enamel.
51 x 42 mm
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
_______________________________
Farinelli.
Amiconi.
76 x 63.5 cms.
Lot 234 - 4 July 2013.
Portrait Courtesy Sotheby's.
see - http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2013/old-master-british-paintings-day-sale-l13034/lot.234.html
____________________________
Farinelli.
Bartolomeo Nazari.
Image Royal College of Music.
_______________________________________
Jacabo Amigoni.
Image Royal College of Music.
_______________________________________
Jacabo Amigoni.
__________________________
Farinelli.
British Museum
___________________________________________
British Museum
___________________________________________
Gioacchino Conti Gizziello (Italian Castrato Opera Singer)
Alexander van Haeken
after Charles Lucy
Mezzotint
354 x 258 mm.
1736
British Museum
_______________________
British Museum.
This engraving only tangentially relevant, appealed to my puerile sense of humour
BM says - "Satire
on Nicola Porpora who was a rival to Handel in the 1730s.
The composer, a gaunt
man wearing a large brimmed hat from which hangs a sheet of music, is seated
astride the back of a man kneeling on the floor; he plays a small organ that
rests on the man's shoulders; an owl perched on the top of the organ sings,
"Da - a - a - a - vido".
The man supporting the organ is playing the
pan pipes; his breeches have been pulled down and a youth provides the wind for
his music with a pair of bellows inserted into his anus; he carries on his back
a basket laden with further pairs of bellow.
Three sheets of paper lying on the
floor refer to Porpora's works, "Poly[fem]o",
"A[rtaxer]xes" and "D[avi]d".
Etching.
___________________
Beggars Opera.
Image from Metropolitan Museum, New York.
.........................
Image - British Museum.
Inscription content: Lettered within image, above with title
followed by a dedication to "those Generous Encouragers of Foreigners, and
Ruiners of England ...", below with verses beginning, "Brittains
attend - view this harmonious Stage ...", and on either side with two
scrolls listing "... the rich presents Signor Farinello ye Italian Singer
Condiscended to accept ..."
........................
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