Giorgione, Portrait of a Youth (Antonio Broccardo?), 1508-10. Oil on canvas, 73 x 54 cm. Szépmûvészeti Múzeum, Budapest.
Joachim Murat (25 March 1767 – 13 October 1815), a charismatic, daring calvary officer whose flamboyant personal style earned him the title “the dandy king.”
Murat came from semi-humble origins, but through his own skills, and his brother-in-law Napoleon, he became Marshal of France and Grand Admiral or Admiral of France, 1st Prince Murat, Grand Duke of Berg, and finally King of Naples from 1808 to 1815.
Murat was put to death by firing squad after failing to regain his throne from Ferdinand IV of Naples following the 100 Days, but met his death boldly: his last words were supposedly:
« Soldats ! Faites votre devoir ! Droit au cœur mais épargnez le visage. Feu ! »
“Soldiers! Do your duty! Straight to the heart but spare the face. Fire!”
“Not the face” is a much-beloved….is it a trope? No. Anyway it’s a thing I love consistently (one of my favorite jokes in the most recent Sherlock was Irene Adler’s comment that “If I had to punch that face, I’d avoid the nose and teeth too”). HOWEVER I have never seen it in the context of a firing squad before. It’s probably apocryphal but who even cares, that’s style!
Miniature of an unknown man by Nicholas Hilliard; watercolor on vellum stuck to a playing card, c.1600.
“This work beautifully illustrates the role of the miniature in the chivalrous atmosphere of dalliance and intrigue at the court of Elizabeth I, where secret gestures of allegiance could become public display depending on the whim of the wearer. Here the young man turns a picture box, the image concealed, towards his heart. This was a gesture of devotion, presumably made to the wearer of his miniature.”
Tell me there isn’t a hint of Rowan Atikins’ Blackadder there…
Louis-Léopold Boilly
Portrait of the Sculptor Charles-Louis Corbet
