(Savigliano 1794–1878 Turin)
“Bildnis der Adele Elisabeth von Frantzius, geborene Ritt” [Portrait of Adele Elisabeth von Frantzius, née Ritt], verso old title and inscription: „gemalt nach dem Leben von Pedro Ayres 1821“ [painted from life by Pedro Ayres 1821], oil on canvas, 84 x 64,5 cm, framed, (Rei)

Provenance:
Private Collection Germany.

Pietro Ayres’ career, which began with simple portrait painting in his hometown of Savigliano, dramatically changed when he took part in Napoleon’s Russian Campaign in 1812. Ayres settled down in Moscow as a court painter to Czar Alexander I before moving to Warsaw in 1815 to enter into the service of Stanisław Kostka Potocki.

The present portrait was painted shortly after Ayres left the Polish court in 1820, possibly in Gdansk, where the sitter, Adele Elisabeth von Frantzius (1796-1881), lived with her husband, Friedrich Wilhelm.
Adele was born in St. Petersburg, the daughter of Augustin Christian Ritt (1765-1799), who himself had been a miniature painter at Czar Paul I’s court. After her father’s untimely death in 1799, she moved back to Germany with her mother, aged only three. It was only after her marriage to the son of Gdansk’s richest merchant that she came back East in 1816. Although Ritt and Ayres did not work simultaneously at court, it is very probable that the latter had heard of his predecessor and his family, as Ritt’s wife, Charlotte, was known to have been one of St. Petersburg’s most beautiful women in her youth.
From a portrait of Charlotte, by none other than Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun (1755-1842) herself, we can see that Adele took after her mother, as both share the same delicate features.

Wealthy from his experiences amongst the Russian and Polish nobility, Ayres returned to Italy, where he was appointed court painter to Charles Albert, King of Sardinia and Duke of Savoy (1798-1849). Ayres then worked as a portraitist for Turin’s upper classes, but also executed several frescoes in the castles of Racconigi and Pollenzo, as well as in churches in Turin and nearby cities.