(Bologna 1712–1784 St. Petersburg)
Portrait of Joseph de Saint Etienne Borne, Comte de Saint Sernin, the Royal Polish and Electoral Saxon Chamberlain, Captain of the Guard, and Lieutenant General of the Infantry, (his heraldic emblem on the helmet), inscribed and dated Dresden 1755, oil on canvas, 114 x 90.5 cm, in an original carved and gilded 18th Century Louis XVI frame,

Provenance: The Counts of Saint Sernin since the 18th Century.

This elegant painting is so far the only work from Stefeno Torelli’s Dresden period that has appeared on the art market. It is an important rediscovery both in terms of artistic merit and as a historical document of Saxon foreign policy on the eve of the Seven Years’ War. Stefano Torelli, the future director of the Academy of St. Petersburg and a favourite of Catherine II, was trained by his father, Felice Torelli, and his mother, Lucia Casalini, who was also a painter, as well as by Francesco Solimena in Naples. In 1740, Wilhelmine of Prussia commissioned the artist to redecorate the old Hermitage Castle in Bayreuth. The artist subsequently went to Saxony, where he created paintings for the palace church and Nischwitz Castle for August III. In 1755 Torelli painted the Count of Saint Sernin, who, originally from France, had had a successful career at the Dresden court as the King’s chamberlain and holder of high military ranks. The year our painting was executed, the count forewent the pleasures of worldly life and took vows to enter a religious order. In May 1755, the King asked Cardinal de la Rochefoucauld to grant his general an appropriate position among the French clergy. Because of the Seven Years’ War and its consequences, Torelli was forced to leave Dresden. He went first to Lübeck and then to St. Petersburg, where he became a professor at the Academy and the favourite court painter to the Russian Empress. In his new home country he produced portraits of the Russian nobility.

Provenance: The Counts of Saint Sernin since the 18th Century. This elegant painting is so far the only work from Stefeno Torelli’s Dresden period that has appeared on the art market. It is an important rediscovery both in terms of artistic merit and as