Leo VON KLENZE - Lot 338

Lot n° 338
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Estimation :
10000 - 15000 EUR
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Result : 39 000EUR
Leo VON KLENZE - Lot 338
Leo VON KLENZE (Schladen 1784 - Munich 1864) Napoleon on the terrace of the Villa dei Mulini on the island of Elba (Portoferraio) Canvas Height: 30.5 cm Width: 42.5 cm Empire period wood and gilded stucco frame Bears a 20th-century label on the reverse of the frame "CBurrus 75464" and a black stencil mark. Another version of this composition, with slight variations, is in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. Provenance : - Probably Burrus collection (according to a label on the reverse of the frame) - Count and Countess Charles-André Colonna Walewski Collection History: Napoleon's residence on the island of Elba Villa des Moulins, after the heavy defeats suffered in the war of the sixth coalition, which saw Great Britain, the Russian Empire, Prussia, Sweden, the Austrian Empire and some German states as allies, Napoleon was forced to abdicate (April 4, 1814); With the Treaty of Fontainebleau, the enemy powers granted him the personal title of emperor, a lifetime income and sovereignty over the island of Elba. On May 3, 1814, Napoleon disembarked at Portoferraio, accompanied by his mother, his sister Pauline and a small court. He was enthusiastically welcomed by the population, and the Elba flag was hoisted on Fort Stella (red stripe on white background), to which were added the three golden Napoleonic bees. Villa Moulins to become Napoleon's Elbe residence When Napoleon first came to Villa dei Mulini, the building consisted of a single-storey central body connecting two pavilions, one on each side. It was renovated by the architect Paolo Bargigli, who raised the central part of the building to bring the three parts to the same height. Napoleon himself insisted on this. This created an immense salon on a raised floor, used for parties and receptions, while the former barn was converted into a ballroom. The interior decoration was supervised by Vincenzo Revelli, the official court painter. The first floor was simply Napoleon's apartment; the second floor was intended to house the apartments of his wife, Marie-Louise, and his son, but they never joined him on Elba. A sense of sadness and solitude seems to continue to inhabit the building. On his departure on February 26, 1815, the emperor donated the Palazzina to the municipality of Portoferraio, but Ferdinand III of Lorraine, reinstated on the throne in 1815, designated it as the residence of the grand-ducal governor; after the unification of Italy, it became the headquarters of the military engineers. A long dispute between the municipality of Portoferraio and the state ended in 1880 with the definitive award of the villa to the state and the library to the municipality. Biography Leo Von Klenze was born in 1784 in Schladen, Germany, and died in 1864 in Munich, Germany, a painter. After his first abdication with the signing of the Treaty of Fontainebleau in April 1814, Napoleon was granted sovereignty over the Isle of Elba, where between May 1814 and February 26, 1815 he recreated a small court in his imperial residence at the town hall in Portoferraio. The painter Leo von Klenze's architectural studies took him to Italy on numerous occasions from 1806 onwards, and in 1808 he became an architect for King Jerome. Today, he remains particularly famous for the neoclassical buildings that have shaped Munich's image, notably the Glyptothek in 1830 and the Pinakothek in 1836, where he was commissioned by Ludwig I of Bavaria. Then, for Tsar Nicholas I, he designed the new Hermitage in St. Petersburg, which he completed in 1852. A landscape painter who favored views of Italy, with its ruins and more modern architecture, he visited the site of the Emperor's exile, Portoferraio, in 1827, before creating the painting Napoleon at Portoferraio. Temporary import The buyer will be required to pay import duties of 5.5% on top of the hammer price, unless the item is immediately re-exported outside the European Union. Work in temporary import The buyer will have to pay import fees of 5.5% in addition to the hammer price, unless the buyer immediately re-exports the lot outside the European Union.
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