Head of a child

Illustrious sale to: Pinacoteca Brera, Milan

Through the masterful use of graphite and tempera as well as through the skill and the strength of swift and confident strokes, this drawing, which is in a perfect state of preservation, reveals all the mastery of Appiani as a draftsman, attributed to him since his times.

This sheet, one of the most beautiful in Appiano's graphic corpus, combines a broad style and a spirit of idealisation, inspired by the grace of Correggio (a permanent reference for Appiani's painting) to the naturalistic impetus and to life drawing.

The head, seen from below, is a preparatory study for the winged putto located on the

right side of the lunette fresco of “ The Justice” that Appiani painted in 1808

in the throne room of the Palazzo Reale of Milan (fig. 1).

The painter was commissioned the fresco of this room in the early months of 1808.

By August of the same year, the deed was accomplished.

In the vault Appiani frescoed the “ Apotheosis of Napoleon as the Triumphant Jupiter.”

The fresco, detached and kept at Villa Carlotta since 1964, was heavily damaged by the Allied bombings that hit Milan during the Second World War.

In the four lunettes of the vault the artist painted the four cardinal virtues:

Justice, Fortitude, Prudence, Temperance (frescoes removed after the damage suffered during the bombings of 1943, also deposited in 1964 at Villa Carlotta in Tremezzo where they are still preserved).

The allegory of Justice is embodied by a seated female figure, inspired by ancient sculpture, who holds the Napoleonic Code of Laws in her right hand and holds a sceptrein her left hand. On her right side, a winged genie holds a bundle of rods with an axe; on her left side, a second winged putto, whose face is the preparatory study of the drawing presented here, holds a cornucopia, rich in gold and honours, which symbolises the liberalism of the Napoleonic power towards the righteous.

The 5 preparatory cartoons of the entire decoration, which were in the artist's studio at the time of his death, were put up for sale by his heirs, as can be seen from the Sales Catalogue of the Appiani inheritance published in Milan in 1818.

Today the cartoon of the Apotheosis of Napoleon is at the Cabinet des Dessins du Louvre, while the four of the lunettes embellish one of the many flights of stairs that cross the Louvre building itself.

Some preparatory drawings of the vault fresco with Napoleon on the throne are found in the Civic Gallery of Modern Art in Milan, in the Albertina in Vienna and in the Cabinet des Dessins of the Louvre.

Another one appeared in 2006 on the antique dealer market, while two studies for the allegorical figures of Prudence and Justice (which are lost now) are cited in the Catalogue of paintings, cartoons and drawings from 1818.

The drawing presented here was, in all probability, part of the “Folder containing thoughts and life studies for the frescoes of the Hall, other times of the Throne in the

I. R. Palazzo” inventoried in the same Catalogue from 1818.