03 — ARTWORK
Portrait of Vittorio Alfieri
FABRE, François-Xavier · 1793 →
- MEDIUM
- Oil on canvas, 93 x 73 cm
- TYPE
- Portrait
PALETTE
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- FILE
- 1363 × 1700 px · JPEG
COMMENTARY
UNDERLINED TERMS ARE DEFINED IN THE GLOSSARY.
Vittorio Alfieri (1749-1803) was an Italian tragic poet whose predominant theme was the overthrow of tyranny.
To glorify the personality of this writer of tragedies, Fabre has clearly added to the faithfulness of the portraitThe Roman portrait bust survived in the form of life-sized reliquaries of saints, but it was in 15th century Florence that the individual features and character of a contemporary sitter were accurately recorded by sculptors such as Donatello, Desiderio da Settignano, Mino da Fiesole and the Rossellino. A similar degree of realism occurs in 15th century tomb sculpture. The equestrian portrait, based on antique statues such as the Marcus Aurelius monument (Rome, Campidoglio), was revived in the 14th century. Two examples in fresco are Simone Martini's Guidoriccio (c. 1328; Siena, Palazzo Pubblico) and the posthumous portrait of Sir John Hawkwood (1436; Florence, Cathedral) by Uccello, which gives the illusion of a 3-dimensional statue seen from below. The Venetian Republic ordered imposing monuments from Donatello (1447; Gattarnelata, Padua) and Verrocchio (14799; Colleoni, Venice), whilst other statesmen ordered their own images to be erected in public places, directly relating themselves to the military heroes of ancient Rome. Another form of political portraiture derived from antiquity was the commemorative portrait medal designed by artists such as Pisanello. The carved or painted profile portrait became popular in the 1450s. The realism of the clear, flattened image, painted under the influence of Flemish examples by the Pollaiuolo brothers, Piero della Francesca and Botticelli, was superseded by the three-quarter and frontal portrait, psychologically more complex, such as Leonardo's enigmatic Mona Lisa (Paris, Louvre) with her momentary smile or Andrea del Sarto's arresting Portrait of a Man (London, National Gallery). The 16th century portrait became generalized, Lotto's Andrea Odoni (1527; Royal Collection) being an idealized concept of a collector rather than an individual. Group portraits, decorating whole rooms, include the narrative scenes of the Gonzaga court painted by Mantegna (completed 1474; Mantua, Palazzo Ducale) and the elaborate schemes commissioned by the Farnese family in Rome from Vasari (1546; Palazzo della Cancelleria) and Salviati (after 1553; Palazzo Farnese). Portraits were also incorporated into religious narratives, as in Ghirlandaio's fresco cycle painted for Giovanni Tornabuoni in S. Maria Novella, Florence (1486-90). a heroic tone, evident in the facial expression and the pose of the raised arm over which the brown mantleAn overcoat, worn open, popular during the second half of the 15th century and the 16th century and often lined with fur along the hem and around the collar. It reached to the knee or foot, depending on the social class of the wearer. is slung all'antica.
Beyond its value as a historical document, the work is also a striking example of the more severely classicistic current which emerged from the school of David, of whom Fabre was a pupil and close follower.
The painting is signed and dated in the lower right corner, "F. X. Fabre Florentia 1793", and on the reverse bears a famous sonnet written by the poet, dated 18 August 1794.
CITE THIS RECORD — BIBTEX
@online{wga-r27249a08589e45,
author = {Krén, Emil and Marx, Daniel},
title = {Portrait of Vittorio Alfieri by FABRE, François-Xavier},
organization = {{Web Gallery of Art}},
date = {2026-09-13},
url = {https://beta.wga.hu/artists/fabre-franois-xavier-rea51d56b91a8a7/portrait-of-vittorio-alfieri-r27249a08589e45},
urldate = {2026-09-13},
langid = {english}
}ACCESSED 2026-09-13. REPLACE THE AUTHOR FIELD WITH THE COMMENTARY AUTHOR WHERE ONE IS NAMED.
OTHER WORKS BY FRANÇOIS-XAVIER FABRE
The archive catalogues no further works by this artist.
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