Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée Oil Painting "Pope Pius VI"

Item Details

A late 1700s original oil painting on canvas titled Pope Pius VI by the accomplished French Neoclassical painter and teacher, Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée (1725 – 1805). The portrait depicts the religious leads in his choir dress holding his right hand up in a pose of the blessing. The painting identifies the pope’s name to the upper left corner and is faintly signed to the lower left corner. The work is presented in a gilt accented wooden frame with hanging wire to verso.

Pope Pius VI, born Giovanni Angelo Braschi in 1717, reigned during the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. In 1798, the French, after taking control of Rome, declared it the Roman Republic. When Pius refused to submit to the French conquerors, Emperor Napoleon had him taken prisoner and forcibly removed to France. The then elderly pope only survived as far as Valence and died six weeks later. He was buried without an unadorned grave in the south of Valence on January 30, 1800, later relocated to in Rome in 1802.

Condition

- multiple bubbles to front of painting; small light spot to painting’s sleeve cuff from tested restoration techniques; craquelure throughout; frame abrasions.

Dimensions

- measurement of piece in frame.
- canvas measures 28.5″ × 36″.

Item #

17COL109-037