Items Similar to Portrait of an Italian Revolutionary
- Design Credit: Kacy Ellis, Photo Credit: Wynn Myers. Dimensions: H 18 in. x W 13.5 in.
- Design Credit: Jeremiah Brent Design, Photo Credit: Nicole Franzen. Dimensions: H 18 in. x W 13.5 in.
- Design Credit: Sarah Shetter, Photo Credit: Boris Breuer. Dimensions: H 18 in. x W 13.5 in.
- Want more images or videos?Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 6
Elisabeth Jerichau-BaumannPortrait of an Italian Revolutionary
$20,000

About
Provenance:
Private Collection, Copenhagen
Private Collection, New York
In her lifetime the work of Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann was greatly acclaimed across Europe, but especially in Denmark, her adopted country where she lived for the majority of her career. She contributed paintings to the World’s Fair in Paris (1855 and 1867), London (1862), and Vienna (1873). At an exhibition in London in 1852, her works caught the attention of Queen Victoria, who requested a private exhibition at Buckingham Palace and acquired her portrait of an Icelandic woman now in The Royal Collection. She achieved considerable success as a portraitist, and painted several members of European royalty and aristocracy, as well as fellow artists and other notable people of her time. An intimate Self-portrait at age thirty-one reveals the sensitivity of Baumann, both as artist and subject, while a later portrait photograph presents her as a consummate professional, at a table easel—brush, palette and mahlstick in hand—intently studying the subject that she is painting (Figs. 1-2).
Baumann was born to German parents in Warsaw, Poland. At the age of nineteen she entered the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf—then one of the premier art centers in Europe—and spent her formative years working in the context of the Düsseldorf school. Her early subject matter was drawn from Polish life and her native country’s struggles during its rebellion against Russia. Her paintings of a destitute Polish family in the ruins of their burned hut and of a refugee mother with a child were exhibited in Cologne and sold to prominent European collectors. The earnings from these early sales allowed her to travel to Italy—an essential part of artistic development in the early nineteenth century.
Baumann arrived in Rome in 1845. There, she met her husband, the renowned sculptor Jens Adolf Jerichau, who was a member of the circle of Danish artists living in the Eternal City. Baumann wrote of her time in Rome that it “opened my senses and activated my inner balance.” Paintings from Baumann’s Italian period were primarily of local life and people. Her celebrated Italy of 1859—now in the collection of the Ackland Art Museum in Chapel Hill, North Carolina—symbolized the turmoil of Italy before its unification and was much admired when exhibited in London (Fig. 3).
Our portrait is among the more inspired and natural works of Baumann’s oeuvre. While she intentionally painted some of her portraits in a sentimental style popular at the time, the portraits that contain the degree of psychological insight and intrigue found here are among her finest. The sitter is a young Italian man, likely an Italian revolutionary, as suggested by his attire and “Ernani” hat, famously worn by revolutionaries participating in the struggle to unify Italy in this period. Beyond painting likenesses of celebrated people that she encountered, Baumann’s experience of upheaval in revolutionary Poland would certainly have drawn her to depict an Italian revolutionary.
Baumann rejected the stifling norms of her day and was unrivalled in her ability to infuse a sense of intimacy and warmth into her male portraits. Here she presents the sitter closely cropped, creating an intimate encounter between the viewer and the young man depicted. She wrote of the place of sensuality in art: “Opinions will be divided on this, but for myself I have to confess that, if it were forbidden for art to illustrate the sensuous, then my position would be that such a rule would be against the Arts, especially the very nature of the art of painting, which understands and observes with the senses and must therefore employ them as the means to enjoy sensuous creations.”
Danish art historian Anna Schram Vejlby has noted that, surprisingly for the era, in this portrait we observe the female gaze operating upon a young beautiful man in a way more commonly associated with a male artist portraying a woman he admired. That Baumann did not let the conventions of the day decide how she should approach a depiction of a young man is not surprising. She was deeply engaged in the cause of women’s emancipation and in redefining the position of women within the arts and in other vocations. Baumann was among the first female members of the Danish Royal Academy of Arts.
There has been renewed scholarly and curatorial interest in Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann’s art, her life, and the artistic careers of her progeny. This has culminated in the comprehensive catalogue of her work by Jerzy Miskowiak published in 2018, as well as the extensive biography of her grandson, the modernist painter J. A. Jerichau, who had a short but prolific career in Paris in the early twentieth century. Today, Baumann’s works can be found in the National Gallery of Denmark, The Royal Collection, UK, The National Museum Sweden, The Royal Collection, Denmark, The Royal Castle of Warsaw, among others.
Our portrait is presented in a period frame from Danish framemaker and gilder to the Royal Court W. J. Mogensen.
Details
- CreatorElisabeth Jerichau-Baumann (1819 - 1881)
- DimensionsHeight: 18 in. (45.72 cm)Width: 13.5 in. (34.29 cm)
- Medium
- Movement & Style
- Period
- Condition
- Gallery LocationNew York, NY
- Reference Number1stDibs: LU1027006512
Shipping & Returns
- ShippingShips From: New York, NY
- Return Policy
This item cannot be returned.
1stDibs Buyer Protection Guaranteed
If your item arrives not as described, we’ll work with you and the seller to make it right. Learn More

About the Seller
5.0
Recognized Seller
These prestigious sellers are industry leaders and represent the highest echelon for item quality and design.
Established in 1997
1stDibs seller since 2012
14 sales on 1stDibs
Typical response time: 16 hours
More From This Seller
- Portrait of an ArtistLocated in New York, NYSigned indistinctly, lower right: Musfcher f. Provenance: Private Collection, London (according to a label on the reverse) with Newhouse Galleries, New York, as Caspar Netscher wit...Category
17th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil
- Head of an AngelLocated in New York, NYProcaccini was born in Bologna, but his family moved to Milan when the artist was eleven years old. His artistic education was evidently familial— from his father Ercole and his elde...Category
17th Century Old Masters Figurative Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Paper, Oil
- Three AngelsBy Domenico Piola the ElderLocated in New York, NYProvenance: Robert L. and Bertina Suida Manning, New York, until 1996 Private Collection, USA One of the leading artists in Genoa during the second half of the seventeenth century...Category
17th Century Baroque Figurative Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil
- St. Vincent Ferrer Preaching to the People of SalamancaLocated in New York, NYProvenance: Private Collection, New Jersey The present painting depicts Saint Vincent Ferrer preaching from a raised pulpit to a group of seven people seated below him. The saint ...Category
15th Century and Earlier Renaissance Figurative Paintings
MaterialsOil, Wood Panel
- Portrait of a ManBy Bernard Van OrleyLocated in New York, NYCircle of Bernard van Orley Provenance: with Leo Blumenreich and Julius Böhler, Munich, 1924 Dr. Frederic Goldstein Oppenheimer (1881-1963), San Antonio, Texas; by whom given to: ...Category
16th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings
MaterialsOil, Panel
$52,500 - OrientaleBy Henri Fantin-LatourLocated in New York, NYSigned, lower right: Fantin Provenance: Gustave Tempelaere (1840–1904), Paris; possibly by descent to his son: Julien Tempelaere (1876–1961) and with F. & J. Tempelaere, Paris, prob...Category
1890s Romantic Figurative Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Paper, Oil
You May Also Like
Portrait of Woman, Oil On Canvas, 1909
By Eduardo Tojetti
Located in Paris, FR
Portrait of Woman, 1909 . Oil on canvas. Signed and dated upper left . 15 x 12 in. - 38 x 30.5 cm .
Eduardo TOJETTI is an Italian American painter born in Rome, Italy on March 23, 1...
Category
Early 1900s Romantic Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"Sleeping Beauty", George Tsui, Original Oil on Canvas, 47x19 in., Figurative
By George Tsui
Located in Dallas, TX
George Tsui's imagination is filled with Chinese themes. The idea of creating his own brand of classic romanticism, unrestrained by conventional reality, was deeply attractive to him...
Category
Early 2000s Romantic Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Painting, 19th century, oil on canvas, "Young woman with flower basket"
Located in Berlin, DE
Painting, 19th century, oil on canvas, "Young woman with flower basket"
Signed, F.Bach.
Dimensions with frame 52cm x 72.5cm
Category
19th Century Romantic Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
$3,731 Sale Price
20% Off
A portrait - Contemporary Figurative Oil Painting, Subtle, Polish art
By Katarzyna Szydlowska
Located in Warsaw, PL
KATARZYNA SZYDLOWSKA (born in 1969)
Katarzyna Szydlowska studied at the European Academy of Arts under prof. Jerzy Duda Gracz, Antoni Fa?at and Franciszek Starowieyski. She received ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Romantic Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
A glass - Contemporary Figurative Oil Painting, Subtle Female Portrait, Vibrant
By Katarzyna Szydlowska
Located in Warsaw, PL
KATARZYNA SZYDLOWSKA (born in 1969)
Katarzyna Szydlowska studied at the European Academy of Arts under prof. Jerzy Duda Gracz, Antoni Fa?at and Franciszek Starowieyski. She received ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Romantic Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Victoria - XXI Century, Contemporary Figurative Oil Painting, Portrait,Gold Girl
By Katarzyna Szydlowska
Located in Warsaw, PL
KATARZYNA SZYDLOWSKA (born in 1969)
Katarzyna Szydlowska studied at the European Academy of Arts under prof. Jerzy Duda Gracz, Antoni Falat and Franciszek Starowieyski. She received ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Romantic Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Volatile moment - XXI Century, Contemporary Figurative Oil Painting, Portrait
By Katarzyna Szydlowska
Located in Warsaw, PL
KATARZYNA SZYDLOWSKA (born in 1969)
Katarzyna Szydlowska studied at the European Academy of Arts under prof. Jerzy Duda Gracz, Antoni Falat and Franciszek Starowieyski. She received ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Romantic Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Young Woman with Straw Hat, French Female Portrait, Oil on Canvas, Signed, Frame
Located in Doylestown, PA
"Young Woman in Straw Hat" by Adolphe Piot is a 22" x 18" oil on canvas portrait painting. It is signed "A. Piot" in the lower right and it is in its original frame.
Provenance: Pri...
Category
Late 19th Century Romantic Portrait Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
$6,800 Sale Price
20% Off
El Jaleo, The Flamenco Dancer
By Francisco Rodriguez Sanchez Clement
Located in Cotignac, FR
An early 20th century oil on canvas of a vibrant and colourful flamenco dancer, Paris School, by the Spanish artist Francisco Rodriguez Sanchez Clement. Signed bottom left, with exhi...
Category
Early 20th Century Romantic Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
$1,865 Sale Price
25% Off
Friends
By William Etty
Located in Miami, FL
The Condition is fair. work has been slightly over-cleaned. A heavy layer of glossy varnish. The surface of the canvas is undulated and most apparent from extreme side view . Yet in...
Category
Early 1800s Romantic Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil, Canvas
Recently Viewed
View MoreThe 1stDibs Promise
Learn MoreExpertly Vetted Sellers
Confidence at Checkout
Price-Match Guarantee
Exceptional Support
Buyer Protection
Trusted Global Delivery