Vincenzo Vela
Last Days of Napoleon in St-Helena
1866

About the Item

Vincenzo VELA (1820-1891) Last Days of Napoleon in St-Helena Created in 1866 Bronze with brown patina Signed ‘V. Vela F. 1867’ on the terrace. Signed ‘F. Barbedienne Fondeur’. Stamp of ‘Collas’. The original marble of this sculpture was presented at the Universal Exhibition of 1867 and is now on display at the Palace of Versailles. Sitting on his chair, the fallen Emperor holds in his hands an open map of Europe on his knees, contemplating his past conquests and glory. Napoleon appears helpless, fragile, absorbed by thwarted thoughts and regrets, almost naked. With this naturalistic portrait of Napoleon, Vela, who was close to Cavour and Garibaldi, also meditates on the destiny of great men at the time of unified Italy. Literature: -Bénézit, dictionnaire des peintres et sculpteurs, Grund, 1999. -Pierre Boyries, “Napoléon, essai d’iconographie sculptée”, Burgus, 1998. VINCENZO VELA Vincenzo VELA: Swiss sculptor, active mainly in northern Italy. He was born in the village of Ligornetto in Ticino, where a museum today collects much of his works. Advised by his family to become a stonemason, he joined his brother Lorenzo, a sculptor, in Milan in 1834. There he learned as an apprentice and attended the Academy of Brera. He worked in the marble sculptor corporation of the Duomo di Milano. His first commissions came in the 1840s. His early works, influenced by Realism provoked interest and praise from the public as well as critics and got him his first acknowledgements. In 1847 he moved to Rome, where he executed one of his most famous work, the Spartacus now at Ligornetto. Six years later he moved to Turin, to teach in the local Accademia Albertina. His other notable works include the monument to the Sardinian Army and that to the painter Antonio Allegri, best known as Correggio. Versatile and extraordinarily sensitive to the ideas and styles of the times, which he at times anticipated and influenced Vela represents the evolution of Italian art in the second half of the 1800's: a journey that goes from classicism to verism. He returned to Ligornetto in 1867, where he had built a house-museum where he could live and work, but also where he could show the public his work. In Ticino, Vincenzo Vela was active in politics (he was elected to the Grand Counsel) and culturally. He died at Mendrisio aged 71. His work is on display at the Vela Museum; others can be found in Lugano, Bellinzona, Airolo, as well as Milan and Turin. Museums: Versailles: Napoleon at St-Helena, Monumental Marble Bucarest (Musée Simu): Napoleon Genève: Spartacus Rome (Musée National): Les victimes de la construction du tunnel du Saint-Gothard Museo Napoleonico de La Havane: Napoleon at St-Helena

Creator:

Vincenzo Vela (1820 - 1891)

Creation Year:

1866

Dimensions:

Height: 16.54 in (42 cm)Width: 15.36 in (39 cm)Depth: 9.26 in (23.5 cm)

Medium:

Bronze

Movement & Style:

Realist

Period:

1860-1869