{"id":8498,"date":"2020-05-05T18:04:58","date_gmt":"2020-05-05T16:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.carlovirgilio.it\/?post_type=opera&p=8498\/"},"modified":"2020-07-21T18:19:43","modified_gmt":"2020-07-21T16:19:43","slug":"filippo-tagliolini-portrait-of-sir-william-hamilton","status":"publish","type":"opera","link":"https:\/\/www.carlovirgilio.it\/en\/opera\/filippo-tagliolini-portrait-of-sir-william-hamilton\/","title":{"rendered":"Filippo Tagliolini – Portrait of Sir William Hamilton"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Hamilton<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Filippo Tagliolini\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fogliano di Cascia 1745<\/span>–<\/span>Nap<\/span>les<\/span>\u00a01809<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Portrait of\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Sir William Hamilton<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

1781- 1783<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rectangular terracotta plaque<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a043.5\u00a0<\/span>\u00d7<\/span>\u00a030 cm<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Coeval frame in veneered wood, probably southern<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Provenance: Naples, private collection<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sir William Hamilton, Plenipotentiary Ambassador of His Britannic Majesty to the Kingdom of Naples, is depicted in profile, facing to the left and attired in full dress uniform. Strangely, research undergone for this work revealed that whenever William Hamilton had his profile taken he preferred to turn to the left, according to a tradition immortalised \u2013 perhaps for the first time – by Joachim Smith, a modeller at the Josiah and Thomas Wedgwood factory (ill. 1). A cameo in jasper of extreme sophistication and very \u201cBritish\u201d stylised elegance that portrays the ambassador with a slightly open mouth in the act of speaking in a manner of formal nobility, just as he is depicted in 1776 and 1777 by Sir Joshua Reynolds, but full figure and seated in an official pose in his study surrounded by some pieces from his collection of archaeological vases, with Vesuvius smoking in the background.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is particularly interesting to begin by drawing a comparison between the plaque by\u00a0<\/span>Tagliolini<\/span>\u00a0– datable to between 1781 and 1785 \u2013 and the small medallion carried out about a decade earlier, in 1772, by Joachim Smith. The two portraits are apparently similar; both show Hamilton in profile turned to the left, they deliberately share details of the hairstyle, are alike in the flourish of the knotted tie at the nape of his neck and the three curls at his temple, identical in tiny details of the cut of the coat, the number of buttonholes, the medal pinned to his chest, the jabot at his neck and the draping of fur that finishes the elegant figure below. And yet how different the man portrayed by\u00a0<\/span>Tagliolini<\/span>. Ten years have passed, Hamilton has put on weight. His neck, no longer slender, rises from a more voluminous chest and his characteristic profile with pronounced nose is drawn without indulgence but to the undoubted advantage of the expression; the lips are now closed with the slight smile of authority and satisfaction of a confident man. The cameo by Smith was carried out in the period in which Hamilton seems to have collaborated a great deal with the\u00a0<\/span>Wedgwoods<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>providing models for the reproductions of Greco-Italic vases that from 1769 were put into production in their Etruria factory in Staffordshire. It is a portrait that seeks to bring out the cultured refinement of the personage and it is not surprising that Smith \u2013 like other artists of the same period \u2013 had not rendered the full prominence of the nose, which\u00a0<\/span>Tagliolini<\/span>\u00a0on the contrary, perhaps more intimate and less inclined to pay compliments, had chosen to reproduce by relying on what he saw. A choice, furthermore, previously made in an almost caricatural manner by Dominique Vivant-Denon, again setting out from Smith\u2019s portrait and aiming to provide the maximum expressivity to his sketch by giving the noble ambassador the profile of a bird of prey (ill. 2).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the case of\u00a0<\/span>Tagliolini<\/span>, nothing is further from his style than to pursue caricature. A moderate artist, he trained in Rome in the difficult moment of transition between baroque and neo-classicism, in his early works carried out for the Real\u00a0<\/span>Fabbrica<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Ferdinandea<\/span>\u00a0he still expresses himself, especially in portraiture, in the elegant \u201cNeapolitan\u00a0<\/span>barocchetto<\/span><\/i>\u201d in which relief is still given to the movement of drapery but when it came to the facial peculiarities of personages\u2019 likenesses are reproduced with clear\u00a0<\/span>veristic<\/span>\u00a0reference. For example, in making portraits of the king and queen of Naples, he did not hesitate to produce their realistic profiles, not lacking\u00a0<\/span>regality<\/span>\u00a0\u2013 impressive nose and prognathism in Ferdinand IV, hard expression and obvious undershot jaw in Maria Carolina \u2013 reproduced in two splendid plaques in biscuit sent as a gift to Charles III in Spain in 1782 and today conserved at the Royal Palace of Madrid (ill. 3 e 4).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It should be noted that the relationship between Hamilton and the\u00a0<\/span>Wedgwoods<\/span>\u00a0in the 1860s\/70s and the relationship he had with the Director of the Real\u00a0<\/span>Fabbrica<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Ferdinandea<\/span>\u00a0della\u00a0<\/span>Porcellana<\/span>, Domenico Venuti, between 1780 and 1790 were diametrically opposite. The\u00a0<\/span>Wedgwoods<\/span>\u00a0depended on his patronage for their production, needing his consent to reproduce his precious archaeological finds as well as to act as go-between for objects that he found in the\u00a0<\/span>antiquities<\/span>\u00a0markets of Naples and Rome. It must not be forgotten that Hamilton was the person who bought, besides the fragments of the famous Warwick vase, the\u00a0<\/span>Barberini<\/span>\u00a0vase that was later sold to the Duchess of Portland, taking her name, and that she is supposed to have lent to the\u00a0<\/span>Wedgwoods<\/span>\u00a0on Hamilton\u2019s advice. So, the English industrialists must have shown an obsequious recognisance towards Hamilton and felt that a cameo with his portrait would give him pleasure from every point of view. Whereas at the Bourbon factory, it was Hamilton who had to persuade Venuti, who besides being Director of the porcelain factory was also Director General of Excavations in the Kingdom. Thus, Hamilton also needed his indulgence to buy new finds, bypassing the restrictions that prevent the sale of objects found underground, by law the property of the State, except those considered to be less significant or similar to others already present in the royal collections; all at Venuti\u2019s total discretion.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To interpret a work of art is always problematic when various personalities and situations are involved. In our case: the subject, William Hamilton; the artist, Filippo\u00a0<\/span>Tagliolini<\/span>\u00a0and the Real\u00a0<\/span>Fabbrica<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Ferdinandea<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

William Hamilton (1740-1803) arrived in Naples as the plenipotentiary ambassador in 1764 accompanied by his first wife, Catherine Barlow, an heiress of delicate health he had married in 1758, brilliantly resolving the critical financial situation he had as younger son of Lord Archibald Hamilton. He was nonetheless rich in a thorough and cultural education and in his social connections; he was foster brother to George III, King of England, which should not be underestimated. At the time of his appointment Naples was already enjoying the happy situation of being the latest destination on the Grand Tour in the wake of the spectacular archaeological digs launched by Charles of Bourbon and the scientific interest in volcanology due to the intense activity of Vesuvius at the time (1), which happened to be Hamilton\u2019s two great passions alongside\u00a0<\/span>music. It is known that when his predecessor James Gray stepped down in Naples giving poor health as his reason when in fact he was afraid of the epidemic with a high death rate that was spreading through the city, Hamilton put himself forward with insistence, like his successor, for a position that was not very popular at the time. Thanks to his prestigious official role, his financial means and his love for antiquities he managed to put together a first large collection of vases that was brought out in print after much trouble in four volumes with comment by\u00a0<\/span>d\u2019Hancarville<\/span>, a true publishing jewel, the\u00a0<\/span>Antiquit\u00e9s<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Etrusques<\/span><\/i>, Grecques et\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Romaines<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0It was a publication that would almost become a sale catalogue (2). Hamilton can be said to have been the forefather of the gentleman-merchant, with all the qualities and defects that entails, who not surprisingly ended up spending most of his life in Naples, a transgressive and difficult city, inspiring Francis Haskell to entitle his piece about him as\u00a0<\/span>Charlatan or Pioneer?…\u00a0<\/span><\/i>(3). In the early 1880s, the likely dating for this terracotta plaque, Hamilton was still almost entirely focussed on the hunt for the great archaeological find and research into volcanoes that would also result in an editorial masterpiece,\u00a0<\/span>Campi<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Phlegraei<\/span><\/i>,<\/span><\/i>\u00a0splendidly illustrated by Pietro\u00a0<\/span>Fabris<\/span>\u00a0(4). They are the years in which he was visited by Winckelmann,\u00a0<\/span>d\u2019Hancarville<\/span>, Pietro\u00a0<\/span>Fabris<\/span>, Goethe and the most important men of letters and musicians who were passing through Naples. His wife Catherine died in 1782 and Emma Hart \u2013 whom he would marry in 1791- only arrived in Naples in 1786. However, the \u201990s would be considerably harder years for Hamilton despite the famous\u00a0<\/span>Attitudes<\/span><\/i>\u00a0by Emma and the fact that his collections continued to constitute a mandatory stop for gentlemen passing through Naples; the prestige of his name inevitably being tarnished by Emma\u2019s liaison with Admiral Horatio Nelson becoming public. The catalogue of his second collection illustrated by the sketches of Wilhelm\u00a0<\/span>Tischbein<\/span>\u00a0\u2013 Goethe\u2019s travelling companion in Italy – published in 1795 would not bring the expected economic return following the sinking of the naval ship\u00a0<\/span>Colossus<\/span><\/i>\u00a0heading for England and the loss of the whole collection that had been taken on board with the help of Nelson (5). In 1800, when the French arrived in Naples, Hamilton would leave the city and just two years later he would die in London.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And now for the artist, Filippo\u00a0<\/span>Tagliolini<\/span>. Little is known of his private life preceding his arrival in Naples in 1780 except the details enthusiastically gathered by one of his early admirers, Amerigo\u00a0<\/span>Montemaggiori<\/span>, recorded in the register compiled by Roberto Valeriani and published as a note in the well-known volume by Alvar\u00a0<\/span>Gonz\u00e0lez<\/span>-Palacios (6). In a recent study of the porcelain belonging to the Marchese della Sambuca \u2013 the minister appointed to the position of Secretary of State in 1776 at the time of\u00a0<\/span>Tanucci\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0fall into disgrace at the behest of Maria Carolina as being a person welcomed at the court of Vienna where Sambuca had previously had the position of Plenipotentiary Envoy for the King of Naples \u2013 it was possible to reconstruct the facts that both the appointment of Venuti as Director of the porcelain factory and the request for\u00a0<\/span>Tagliolini<\/span>\u00a0to move from Vienna were the direct consequence of the substitution of\u00a0<\/span>Tanucci<\/span>\u00a0with Sambuca. Sambuca\u2019s appointment represented a clear turning point not only in the modernisation of the royal porcelain factory (Real\u00a0<\/span>Fabbrica<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Ferdinandea<\/span>\u00a0della\u00a0<\/span>porcellana<\/span>), his wide-ranging reforms were central to a modern liveability throughout the kingdom, for example the great transformation of the university that not even the Genovese managed to achieve and the launch in 1777 to the creation of the Real Museo\u00a0<\/span>Borbonico<\/span>, the current Museo\u00a0<\/span>Archeologico<\/span>\u00a0Nazionale di Napoli (7). Hence, it is in 1780 that\u00a0<\/span>Tagliolini<\/span>\u00a0travels \u201con loan\u201d from Vienna with the furnace technician Magnus Fessler to give an artistic and technical shake-up to the Neapolitan porcelain factory until then conducted on\u00a0<\/span>more or less amateur<\/span>\u00a0lines.\u00a0<\/span>Tagliolini<\/span>\u00a0would never again leave Naples and in complete accord with Venuti would transform the factory\u2019s production \u2013 well supported financially by the new administration of Sambuca – into what would be a royal factory, calling\u00a0<\/span>card of the kingdom. Given this development, the miniatures that exalted the natural beauty of the Two\u00a0<\/span>Sicilies<\/span>\u00a0became very important whilst\u00a0<\/span>Tagliolini<\/span>\u00a0dedicated himself to reproductions of the archaeological heritage of the house of Bourbon and to the official portraits of sovereigns and the kingdom\u2019s illustrious people.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We believe that the terracotta plaque with Hamilton\u2019s portrait could be the prototype for a later version in biscuit that, if it were made, must be supposed to have been among the objects that he took with him when he left Naples. Comparison with the two medallions of the sovereigns leads one to believe that Hamilton\u2019s portrait would also have been shaped in an oval and that in this case the dimensions would have been the same, 43 x 33 cm, using the mould at the factory that had been fine-tuned for the medallions sent to Madrid. It is likely that\u00a0<\/span>Tagliolini<\/span>\u00a0made a first model in terracotta since we know of at least three other large groups with several figures and a fourth smaller one, all in terracotta: the so-called\u00a0<\/span>Montemaggiori<\/span>\u00a0group, not coloured and signed by\u00a0<\/span>Tagliolini<\/span>, shown in 1980 by Alvar\u00a0<\/span>Gonz\u00e0lez<\/span>-Palacios at the Eighteenth century Neapolitan exhibition (8), the cold painted group at the Museo Correale in Sorrento and the further unpublished work, also cold painted, conserved in a private collection, as is the smaller group. Moreover, our plaque suggests that it would be useful to go further into the role carried out by Hamilton in Naples and find out how close his relations with Venuti as director of Real\u00a0<\/span>Fabbrica<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Ferdinandea<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>actually were<\/span>. One shouldn\u2019t exclude the possibility that behind the decorative choice of the Etruscan service sent as a gift to George III, King of England, in 1787\u2013 with the most interesting pieces of the Bourbon vase collection miniated (9) \u2013 was the decisive contribution of Hamilton, in a role not unlike the one he had at Wedgwood, given that if the choice of gift had been left to Ferdinand IV it would certainly have been different.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Angela\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Car\u00f2la-Perrotti<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Footnotes<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. J. Jenkins \u2013 K. Sloan,<\/span>Vases and Volcanoes: Sir William Hamilton and his Collection<\/span><\/i>, Exhibition Catalogue, London 1996<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. <\/i>Antiquit\u00e9s<\/span><\/i><\/i>Etrusques<\/span><\/i>, Grecques et\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Romaines<\/span><\/i>,\u00a0<\/span><\/i>tir\u00e9e<\/span><\/i>\u00a0du cabinet de M. Hamilton,\u00a0<\/span><\/i>envoy\u00e9<\/span><\/i>\u00a0extraordinaire de S.M.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Britannique<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>en<\/span><\/i>\u00a0court de Naples<\/span><\/i>, Napoli 1776-1777, vv. 4 in folio.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. F.<\/span>Haskell<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>Ciarlatano o pioniere? Uno storico dell\u2019arte a Napoli nel Settecento<\/span><\/i>, in,\u00a0<\/span>Arti e Civilt\u00e0 del Settecento a Napoli<\/span><\/i>, ed. by C. De Seta, Bari 1982. On Hamilton\u00a0<\/span>see<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>also<\/span>: C. Knight,\u00a0<\/span>Hamilton a Napoli. Cultura, svaghi, civilt\u00e0 di una grande capitale europea<\/span><\/i>,\u00a0<\/span>Naples<\/span>\u00a01990.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. W. Hamilton,<\/span>Campi<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Plegraei<\/span><\/i>. Observations on The Volcanos of the Two\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Sicilies<\/span><\/i>, as they have been communicated to the Royal Society of London by Sir William Hamilton K.B.F.R.S. his Britannic Majesty\u2019s Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at the Court\u00a0 of Naples<\/span><\/i>, Naples 1776; a publication to which followed a supplement including a description of the eruption of 1779, Naples 1779.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Collection of Engravings from Ancient Vases mostly of pure Greek Workmanship discovered\u00a0 in sepulchres in the Kingdom of the Two<\/span><\/i>Sicilies<\/span><\/i>\u00a0but chiefly in the neighbourhood of Naples during the course of the years 1789 and 1790, now in the possession of Sir William Hamilton, His Britannic Majesty Envoy\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Extr<\/span><\/i>. and Plenipotentiary at the Court of Naples, with remarks on each vase by the Collector<\/span><\/i>, Naples 1791-95, vv. 4 in folio.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. A.<\/span>Gonz\u00e0lez<\/span>-Palacios,\u00a0<\/span>Lo scultore Filippo Tagliolini e la porcellana di Napoli<\/span><\/i>, Turin 1988.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  7. A.<\/span>Car\u00f2la<\/span>-Perrotti,\u00a0<\/span>Le porcellane del Marchese della Sambuca<\/span><\/i>, in:\u00a0<\/span>Gli amici per Nicola Spinosa<\/span><\/i>, ed. by F.\u00a0<\/span>Baldassarie<\/span>\u00a0M. Confalone, Rome 2019, pp. 217-229<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  8. A. A.,<\/span>Civilt\u00e0 del \u2018700 a Napoli 1734 -1799<\/span><\/i>, Florence 1980, p. 154.\u00a0<\/span>The group was successively bid for at Christie\u2019s Italy, Rome 24\/4\/1991, lot 325.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  9. For<\/span>documents<\/span>\u00a0on the Servizio Etrusco cfr. A.\u00a0<\/span>Car\u00f2la<\/span>-Perrotti,\u00a0<\/span>La Porcellana della Real Fabbrica Ferdinandea<\/span><\/i>, Cava dei Tirreni 1978, p. 210-212; for the story of the service cfr. A.\u00a0<\/span>Car\u00f2la<\/span>\u00a0Perrotti, ed. by,\u00a0<\/span>Le Porcellane dei Borbone di Napoli, Capodimonte e Real Fabbrica Ferdinandea 1743 -1806<\/span><\/i>,\u00a0<\/span>exhibition<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>catalogue<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>Naples<\/span>\u00a01986, pp. 352 \u2013 375.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Filippo Tagliolini\u00a0 Fogliano di Cascia 1745–Naples\u00a01809\u00a0 Portrait of\u00a0Sir William Hamilton\u00a0 1781- 1783\u00a0 Rectangular terracotta plaque,\u00a043.5\u00a0\u00d7\u00a030 cm\u00a0 Coeval frame in veneered wood, probably southern\u00a0 Provenance: Naples, private collection\u00a0 \u00a0 Sir William Hamilton, Plenipotentiary Ambassador of His Britannic Majesty to the Kingdom of Naples, is depicted in profile, facing to the left and attired in full dress…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":8500,"template":"","autore":[372],"tipologia_opera":[80],"ambito_opera":[84],"data_opera":[373],"disponibilita_opera":[],"titolo_mostra":[362],"tag_mostra":[363],"class_list":["post-8498","opera","type-opera","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","autore-filippo-tagliolini-1745-1809","tipologia_opera-recent-acquisitions","ambito_opera-sculpture-en","data_opera-373","titolo_mostra-law-digital-summer-2020","tag_mostra-law-digital-summer-2020","description-off"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carlovirgilio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/opera\/8498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carlovirgilio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/opera"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carlovirgilio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/opera"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carlovirgilio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carlovirgilio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"autore","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carlovirgilio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/autore?post=8498"},{"taxonomy":"tipologia_opera","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carlovirgilio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tipologia_opera?post=8498"},{"taxonomy":"ambito_opera","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carlovirgilio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ambito_opera?post=8498"},{"taxonomy":"data_opera","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carlovirgilio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/data_opera?post=8498"},{"taxonomy":"disponibilita_opera","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carlovirgilio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/disponibilita_opera?post=8498"},{"taxonomy":"titolo_mostra","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carlovirgilio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/titolo_mostra?post=8498"},{"taxonomy":"tag_mostra","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carlovirgilio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tag_mostra?post=8498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}