Portrait of Carlo Emanuele I of Savoy,
oil on canvas, 125.5 x 92 cm, framed Provenance:
Private European collection

The present portrait represents Carlo Emanuele I (Rivoli 1562-1630 Savigliano), the son of Emanuele Filiberto and Margherita of Valois, who was Duke of Savoy from 1580.

The present work can be compared to the portraits by the court painter Jan Kraeck, called Giovanni Caracca (Haarlem circa 1568-1607 Turin) to which can be added, in chronological order, the marble bust attributed to Andrea Rivalta (Rome? - 1624 Turin) and the tempera on parchment by Giovanni Garzoni (Ascoli Piceno 1600-1670 Rome). Further confirmation for the identification of the present sitter’s identity can be found in engravings by Giacomo Fornaseri (documented in Piedmont and Paris 1590-1619) and Willem de Haen (1591 - circa 1625).

If Emanuele Filiberto restored sovereignty to the States of Savoy, it was Carlo Emanuele I who impressed a new system of government based on the arts bent to the service of his own glory and that of the House of Savoy (see S. Gal, Carlo Emanuele I: le arti e le armi al servizio dell’ambizione reale dei Savoia, in: A. M. Bava/E. Pagella (eds.), Le Meraviglie del mondo. Le collezioni di Carlo Emanuele I di Savoia, exhibition catalogue, Genoa 2016, p. 17). Indeed, during the fifty years of his rule, the prince was depicted primarily to highlight his role as a victorious commander, as is demonstrated by the present painting, a state portrait, which is datable to the first quarter of the seventeenth century. Stylistically, the present painting  is probably by a Flemish hand, both on account of the composition, which conforms to the norms of international portraiture, and on account of the calligraphic manner of depicting the costume, which is in the Spanish fashion. The clothes are ornamented with a dynastic motif, the knot of Savoy, while the sitter is further ennobled by the collar of the Order of the Santissima Annunziata.

We are grateful to Alberto Marchesin for his help in cataloguing the present painting.