Portraits of Melissano (1877)

Overview

Between April and June 1877 Marie made at least three versions of the portrait of the young Neapolitan prince of Melissano, whom she calls a "singe" in her diary and who followed her around Naples that spring (#Melissano). 26 April 1877, Naples (071.0007): "J'ai croqué la tête de Melissano grandeur naturelle, en deux minutes. Porcinari tenait la toile ... La ressemblance est frappante." 27 April (071.0013-0014, 071.0021): Melissano poses and she does a colour portrait in an hour and a half, "le nez un peu allongé pour plus de cachet"; Doenhoff praises it, and Melissano takes it away to show the princess of Piedimonte. 23 May, Nice (071.0427): in a letter to Marcuard she says she has just finished Melissano, composed so far to the left that the right side is empty, and asks for a photograph of Marcuard's friend Alexandre (Count Alessandro de Larderel, #Larderel) from which to paint a pendant ("un pendant à ce cher prince"). 30 May (071.0491): she has made "une copie du portrait de Melissano en une heure et dix minutes". 31 May (071.0507): "Le nouveau Melissano est mieux réussi que le premier." 11 June (072.0006-0007): she shows her father "Alexandre et Melissano" (the pair of portraits, presumably) and he reads Melissano's character from the nose: "un être profondément voluptueux, son nez renferme toutes les passions".

Marie and this work

They were made quickly, to be shown to others (Doenhoff's compliments, the princess of Piedimonte, her father). Whether the 26 April chalk head, the 27 April portrait and the later Nice versions are three objects or two is not clear from the diary; the entry treats them together. None is known to survive; no image.

References in Diary

Related Entries

Sources