Lot 4001: Confalonieri, Comte Federico: Physionotrace portraits of the Confalonieris

Artist: Gilles-Louis Chrétien (1754 - 1811). Profile portraits of Comte Federico Confalonieri de Candia and Comtessa Teresa Confalonieri Casati (1787 - 1830). Circa 1806. 2 physionotrace engravings (diameter 8,5 cm). Each with engraved text around lower part of image: Dess. et. gr. p.Chrétien inv. du physionotrace rue St. honoré en face l'oratoire No. 125 à Paris, mounted to paper and annotated in ink with the sitters' names below the image on the mount.
Born in Milan, the Italian revolutionist Federico Confalonieri came from a noble Lombard family. In 1806 he married Teresa Casati who is depicted in the second portrait offered in this lot. During the Napoleonic period Confalonieri was among the opponents of the French regime, and was regarded as one of the leaders of the Italian national party. After the fall of Napoleon he went to Paris with other Lombard delegates to plead his country's cause, advocating the formation of a separate Lombard state under an independent prince. Confalonieri went on to London, in the hope of winning the favor of the British government, but failed. He then joined the Freemasons and some of the various other secret societies in Europe. On returning to Milan, where he found the Austrians in power, he at first devoted himself to promoting the material progress of his country, but he was also continuously watching for an opportunity to liberate it.
Confalinieri's wife died in 1830, and in 1836, after the death of the Emperor Francis II, he was pardoned and exiled to America. Broken in health and spirits, Confalinieri died on December 10, 1846, too soon to see the accomplishment of Italian freedom. - A few spots from glue in edges, otherwise attractive prints in very good condition.
Lit.: H. Beraldi/R. Portalis. Les graveurs du dix-huitième siècle, Tome III. Paris 1882, pp. 364-65.
Federico Confalonieri. Memorie e Lettre. Milan 1889.