ROSSINI GIOACCHINO: (1792-1868)
ROSSINI GIOACCHINO: (1792-1868) Italian composer. Vintage signed and inscribed carte-de-visite photograph, the sepia albumen print by Legé & Bergeron depicting an elderly Rossini seated in a three-quarter-length pose, formally attired in a dark frock coat and waistcoat with a cravat at his neck and a watch chain across his waistcoat, his head turned slightly to one side and holding a walking cane in his right hand. Signed and inscribed by Rossini to the verso, in Italian, ´Ricordo offerto a A. Fabbrichesi come augurio di felice riuscita nell' arte musicale G. Rossini´ (Translation: ´A memento presented to A. Fabbrichesi as a wish for success in the art of music. G. Rossini´) and also adding the place and date, Passy, 18th June 1868. Beneath his signature Rossini has added a brief one-bar autograph musical quotation, comprising a short sequence of notes on a hand-drawn stave, flanked by the initials A. and P. With the photographer´s imprint to the lower mount. Some traces of former mounting to the verso (the image and backing having at one stage been neatly separated and subsequently re-assembled), slightly affecting the text, signature and musical quotation, G
The Parisian photographic partnership of Georges-Mathurin Legé and Sosthène Bergeron-Danguy succeeded the celebrated photographer Étienne Carjat at his studio at 56 rue Laffitte. The Bibliothèque nationale de France dates the partnership to 1867–68, while the Musée d'Orsay records Legé & Bergeron as successors to Carjat and their subsequent activity into the early 1870s. The present portrait belongs to the celebrated series of photographic likenesses of Rossini originating with Carjat's studio; examples are variously credited to Carjat & Cie and to his successors Legé & Bergeron.
Rossini inscribed the present photograph at his villa in Passy on 18th June 1868, during the final months of his life. Having settled permanently in Paris in 1855, the composer divided his time between his apartment in the city and his villa at Passy, where his celebrated Saturday musical gatherings attracted many of the leading musicians and cultural figures of the day. Although he had long since withdrawn from the composition of opera, his later years witnessed a remarkable creative revival, producing the witty and highly personal pieces collectively known as the Péchés de vieillesse (Sins of Old Age) and, in 1863, the Petite messe solennelle. Rossini died at Passy on 13th November 1868, exactly 148 days after inscribing the present photograph.
ROSSINI GIOACCHINO: (1792-1868) Italian composer. Vintage signed and inscribed carte-de-visite photograph, the sepia albumen print by Legé & Bergeron depicting an elderly Rossini seated in a three-quarter-length pose, formally attired in a dark frock coat and waistcoat with a cravat at his neck and a watch chain across his waistcoat, his head turned slightly to one side and holding a walking cane in his right hand. Signed and inscribed by Rossini to the verso, in Italian, ´Ricordo offerto a A. Fabbrichesi come augurio di felice riuscita nell' arte musicale G. Rossini´ (Translation: ´A memento presented to A. Fabbrichesi as a wish for success in the art of music. G. Rossini´) and also adding the place and date, Passy, 18th June 1868. Beneath his signature Rossini has added a brief one-bar autograph musical quotation, comprising a short sequence of notes on a hand-drawn stave, flanked by the initials A. and P. With the photographer´s imprint to the lower mount. Some traces of former mounting to the verso (the image and backing having at one stage been neatly separated and subsequently re-assembled), slightly affecting the text, signature and musical quotation, G
The Parisian photographic partnership of Georges-Mathurin Legé and Sosthène Bergeron-Danguy succeeded the celebrated photographer Étienne Carjat at his studio at 56 rue Laffitte. The Bibliothèque nationale de France dates the partnership to 1867–68, while the Musée d'Orsay records Legé & Bergeron as successors to Carjat and their subsequent activity into the early 1870s. The present portrait belongs to the celebrated series of photographic likenesses of Rossini originating with Carjat's studio; examples are variously credited to Carjat & Cie and to his successors Legé & Bergeron.
Rossini inscribed the present photograph at his villa in Passy on 18th June 1868, during the final months of his life. Having settled permanently in Paris in 1855, the composer divided his time between his apartment in the city and his villa at Passy, where his celebrated Saturday musical gatherings attracted many of the leading musicians and cultural figures of the day. Although he had long since withdrawn from the composition of opera, his later years witnessed a remarkable creative revival, producing the witty and highly personal pieces collectively known as the Péchés de vieillesse (Sins of Old Age) and, in 1863, the Petite messe solennelle. Rossini died at Passy on 13th November 1868, exactly 148 days after inscribing the present photograph.
