Lot 49: Pellegrino Parodi (Genoa 1705-1785 Lisbon)

Portrait of Giambattista Cambiaso (1711-1772) standing at a table pointing to Savona on a map of the Gulf of Genoa, in front of a blue curtain
inscribed 'Golfo di Genova' and 'Savona'
pastel, in a contemporary frame
31 x 22 5/8 in. (784 x 570 mm.)

Giambattista Cambiaso, and then by descent to the present owner.

Giambattista Cambiaso was a gifted politician and one of the most influential figures in Genoa in the mid 18th Century. In 1746 he was appointed Governor of Savona, an important city in the Genoese territories which was under threat from Piedmontese troops sent by General Botta Adorno, commander of the Austrian forces in Northern Italy. Cambiaso's leadership averted the crisis, and it is this early triumph that is alluded to on the map in this portrait.
Cambiaso was elected Doge of Genoa on 16 April 1771, and remained in this post until his death on 23 December 1772. The main achievement of his period of office was the restoration of the interior of the Palazzo Ducale.
Pellegrino Parodi was the son of painter Domenico Parodi. A pair of pastel portraits by him, of Jacques and Françoise Balton, executed in Lisbon in 1759, were sold at Sotheby's, London, 4 March 1970, lot 39. These are particularly similar to the present portrait in the delicate handling of the face and hair, and the treatment of the lace. Parodi seems to have spent the remainder of his career in Portugal, which suggests that 1759 may provide a terminus ante quem for the portrait of Cambiaso. A portrait attributed to Parodi of Doge Cesare Cattaneo della Volta (Doge 1748-1750) is illustrated in P. Boccardo et al., El siglo de los genoveses, e una lunga storia di arte e splendori nel Palazzo dei Dogi, exhib. cat., Genoa, Palazzo Ducale, 1999, no. VI-55. Dr Mary Newcome Schleier kindly drew our attention to the similarity between this drawing and the two sold in 1970.