Franz Ferdinand Richter

(1693 - 1743)

oil on canvas, framed, few defects

cm 72x72,5

The following technical sheet of the work was created by Professor Sandro Bellesi as part of the inventory of the paintings of the Fattoria Franceschini. The work, in an excellent state of conservation, shows, within a dark and apparently indefinable environment, the figure of a man already advanced in years dressed in sober but elegant clothes on which is draped, with apparent nonchalance, a cloth in wine-colored silk. The figure, who points his gaze outwards as if to capture the attention of the observers, holds a volume in his right hand, on the rib of which the inscription «Opere del Fagioli. Volume II ». Thanks to this writing it is possible to recognize in the portrayed character the poet Giovan Battista Fagiuoli (Florence, 1660 - 1742), composer much loved by the Grand Ducal court and by the Florentine nobles of his time, author of satirical and pungent works, mainly rhymes and sonnets. Excluding for style characters the possibility of recognizing in the author of the work Pietro Ughi, Giulio Pignatta or Violante Siriés Cerroti, mentioned in ancient sources as authors of portraits of Fagiuoli, this appears to be assignable, on the basis of its lexical reading, to the Polish Franz Ferdinand Richter, artist, born in Breslau in 1693, documented starting from 1731 in Florence, a city in which he was much appreciated by the last members of the Medici family, where he died in 1743. The assignment of the painting to Richter finds appropriate confirmation in the Diary of the same Fagiuoli, where it is remembered that on 13 December 1736 the poet went to the painter's studio to pose for the execution of a portrait. The work will be published by Sandro Bellesi in his next studio.