(Rome 1709–1777)
Portrait of Pietro Torri (circa 1650–1737),
oil on canvas, 132 x 103 cm, framed

We are grateful to Francesco Petrucci for suggesting the attribution of the present painting and for his help in cataloguing this lot.

The present portrait shows an elegantly dressed gentleman wearing a wig and a blue coat trimmed with fur and decorated with floral motifs, together with a ‘camisole-vest’ also decorated with flowers, there is a pale cloth to his left and a drape in the background.

Technically the portrait is characterised by a strong painterly style, with dense touches of highlighting, and a nervous and fractured brush stroke, together with notable mastery of execution. Stylistically this portrait can be referred to the ingenious and unpredictable artist Ludovico Stern, who often used Venetian-like brushwork. The Northern European stylistic qualities in this portrait derive from the Austrian origins of the artist’s father, Ignazio Stern (see: F. Petrucci/D. K. Marignoli, Ludovico Stern tra rococo e neoclassicismo, Rome 2012).

On the manuscript held by the sitter there is a musical score inscribed ‘La Baviera’ identifying the sitter as an affirmed and successful musician, who had attained such economic success as to have himself portrayed as a prince. These elements support the identification of the sitter as the celebrated composer from Verona, Pietro Torri (Peschiera del Garda circa 1650–1737 Munich), who composed the ‘La Baveria’ cantata. The present portrait can be dated to circa 1735, a date suggested by the subject’s clothing and Stern would have been about twenty-five years of age at this time.

This should therefore be considered as one of Stern’s first portraits which is more advanced in quality than that of Richard du Cane (see op. cit. Petrucci/Marignoli, 2012, p. 107, no. B1) and already aligned with those of cardinals Giuseppe Renato Imperiali and Francesco Landi Pietra dating from the 1740s (see op. cit. Petrucci/Marignoli, 2012, pp. 108-109, nos. B4, B5). Stylistically there are also affinities with the portrait of Franz Ludwig Freiherr von und zu Erthal (see op. cit. Petrucci/Marignoli, 2012, pp. 115, 118-119, nos. C6, C11).

Pietro Torri was active as the organist of Christian Ernst of Brandenburg, Margrave of Bayreuth and therefore at the service of the Prince Elector of Bavaria, Maximilian II Emanuel; having followed the regent to Brussels he also travelled to work in France. He settled in Munich in 1715 becoming musician to Charles Albert, the son of his protector who succeeded to the throne of Bavaria in 1726, when he composed the allegorical cantata ‘La Baveria’ exalting the prince as heir to the imperial throne. Indeed, in that very year Charles Albert was elected Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire with the name Charles VII, confirming Torri’s fame and fortune as the imperial court musician (I. Mai Groote, Pietro Torri, un musicista Veronese alla corte di Baviera, Verona 2003).