Giuseppe DE DOMENICI (1758 - après 1800), peintre de la Cour royale de Turin

Portrait of Monsieur, Comte de Provence, aged 35 on the day of his exile. Rare round miniature painted on ivory, signed lower left "Dedomenici p(inxit).", representing Louis Stanislas Xavier de France (1755-1824), in three-quarter bust to the right, in civil garb freeing himself from a cut chain with the date of "June 21, 1791", on a landscape background. Cracks. In a rectangular blackened wood frame with a round view circled with gilt bronze. On the back a handwritten label: "The C(om)te de Provence brother of Louis XVI aged 34 (sic), in the dress he wore as a disguise on the day of his escape from Luxembourg accompanied by his friend Antoine-Louis-François d'Avaray. This miniature was offered to the latter by the Count of Provence". D: 8,2 cm - Frame: H: 15,5 - L: 16,3 cm History: Antoine Louis François de Béziade, count then duke of Avaray (1759-1811), entered as master of the wardrobe of Monsieur, brother of Louis XVI, then companion of exile of Louis XVIII and one of the favorites of this prince. He played an important role in Monsieur's escape from Petit Luxembourg, to ride to Belgium with him. The date of the royal family's escape having been set for Monday 20 June 1791, the Count of Provence set his own departure for the same date. The news having quickly spread throughout Europe, Domenici (or Dominici), painter of the royal family of Savoy from which the Countess of Provence, born Marie-Joséphine of Savoy, came, painted this portrait as a tribute to the future king of France. Literature: Count Alessandro Baudi di Vesme, L'arte in Piemonte dal XVI al XVIII secolo, Vol. 2, 1963, p. 400.