Portrait of Fortunato Bartolomeo de Felice is a painting by an unknown artist, probably completed between 1750 and 1765. The portrait was commissioned by Fortunato Bartolomeo De Felice himself, an Italian count and

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

figure. The portrait is one of few in existence and most fully representative work of de Felice.

The painting

Description

The current holder of the portrait, the de Felice Duchi Estate, puts this painting as the best representation of de Felice in existence. It is composed of

oil paint Oil paint is a type of slow-drying paint that consists of particles of pigment suspended in a drying oil, commonly linseed oil. The viscosity of the paint may be modified by the addition of a solvent such as turpentine or white spirit, and varn ...

on canvas, and an elaborate gold frame. The portrait shows de Felice sitting on a red chair, beside a large red bookcase filled with books. It is a semi-profile half-portrait of a poised, mid-speech de Felice. It seems he is at the beginning of writing a letter which could be representative of his extensive correspondence across Europe. Unfortunately, it is too obscure to make out the writing on the letters on his desk. He appears well-fed; his tightly buttoned jacket and slight double chin accentuate this. In a contrast to his austere jacket, white frills protrude at his wrist and he wears a black velvet turban. The

turban A turban (from Persian دولبند‌, ''dulband''; via Middle French ''turbant'') is a type of headwear based on cloth winding. Featuring many variations, it is worn as customary headwear by people of various cultures. Communities with promine ...

is perhaps a reference to his cultured life, and the turban was becoming increasingly fashionable during the 18th Century as connections to India grew. However, there is no record of de Felice having ever visited India during his lifetime. He has blue eyes under rather heavy lids, a strong Roman nose and a hint of a mustache growing. All the interior elements match in this paintings; the red curtain that reveals the figure, the red ornately carved bookshelf, his red armchair and his red desk. The background however is split into two halves. The left containing the bookshelf and a cream-coloured section. The right hand side is a matte black, contrasting with the navy blue of his jacket and the rich velvet of his turban.

Symbolism

It is not known if there is any significance to the middle three buttons his jacket being undone. It is also of note that as such his jacket's buttons are in order of 2, 3 and 4 buttons. Set amongst the black background is a

heraldic symbol Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branch ...

, which is not the de Felice coat of arms. It is at present unknown what it represents. It is two-thirds red; the other third is a white strip and black plume. It has been suggested that it might be the insignia of the Bern Typographical Society of which he was President.

Notes

It is assumed that this portrait was painted at a similar time to that of his second wife, Susanne Catherine de Wavre. If the two portraits were painted at the same time, it is curious that de Felice's portrait is a great deal more rigid than de Wavre's which is practically

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

in style.

References

{{reflist 1760 paintings