Lot 302: JACQUES BERGER

JACQUES BERGER FRENCH 1754 - 1822 PORTRAIT OF FERDINAND I KING OF THE TWO SICILIES WITH A BUST OF LUCIA MIGLIACCIO, DUCHESS OF FLORIDIA signed Berger lower right oil on canvas 225 by 148cm., 88½ by 58¼in.

Lucia Migliaccio Duchessa di Floridiana, Naples, 2008, p. 28, illustrated

Executed circa 1815.

At the age of 63, Ferdinand I (1751 - 1825) took Lucia Migliaccio as his second wife, months after the death of his first wife Maria Carolina of Austria. A pendant painting by Vincenzo Camuccini, in which Lucia Migliaccio is depicted holding a miniature of Ferdinand I, is held by the Villia Floridiana, near Naples.Around his neck, Ferdinand I wears the badge of the Spanish Order of the Golden Fleece (of which he was made a Knight at birth). On his breast are the Sicilian Order of St Januarius (left), the Sicilian Order of St Ferdinand (right) and below the Russian Order of St. Andrew. Below are the Spanish Order of Charles III (left) and the French Order of Saint-Esprit. On the sash by the hilt of his sword is the badge of the Sicilian Order of St Ferdinand.