Verdi, Giuseppe

executed in pen and brown ink, black crayon, and blue and blue-black washes

each 15 x 12.2cms, on card, framed and glazed, matching contemporary gilt-wood frames (c.25 x 22cm), 1850s, overall browning to Giuseppina's portrait, frames worn, with some surface loss to the corners 

From Giovannina Strepponi, Giuseppina's cousin (b.1839, the daughter of her uncle Francesco Strepponi and twenty-four years her junior) and thence by descent.  By Giuseppina's own account, Giovannina was the only member of her extended family that she corresponded with regularly, and to whom she sent money and exchanged gifts (see Walker pp.241-242).

Mary Jane Phillips-Matz, Verdi, A Biography (Oxford 1993), plate no.10;  Maria Moretti, Giuseppina Verdi Strepponi: documenti testimonianze, immagini (2006), p.66; F. Walker, The Man Verdi (1962); W. Weaver, Verdi: a Documentary Study (1977); G. Gatti, Verdi nelle immagini (1941)

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

These portraits derive from the family of Giuseppina Strepponi (1815-1897), the famous operatic soprano who lived with Verdi in Busseto and St. Agata from July 1849 until her death, and were first published by Mary-Jane Matz in her 1993 biography of Verdi.  Verdi and Giuseppina Strepponi had begun their affair in Paris in around 1848 and did not marry until 1859.  As a retired prima donna living "in sin", with a history of abandoning illegitimate children, she was shunned by society in and around Busseto.  For this reason, the two lovers relocated to the villa at St Agata in 1851.  It was in that year also that Verdi settled on the subject of La traviata for his next opera, which echoes some of these themes in his life.  Mary-Jane Matz also discovered evidence that Giuseppina had another child at about this time.  

Although these two portraits are somewhat naïve in style, showing the lovers' private rather than public faces, those of Giuseppina accord well with the early portrait lithographs of 1836 and 1839 (see Matz, plates 7a & 7b; Weaver no.57).  There are also several well-known formal portraits in oils of Giuseppina painted during her career as a singer, most notably in the Museo Teatrale alla Scala (showing her with the score of Nabucco in 1842 and c.1845), and later by Gyurkovich, in the Casa Barezzi.   In this portrait, Verdi boasts a bushy beard, as in some photographs of the 1850s (see Weaver, no.125) and in the engraving by Gonin.