Imaginary Portrait of a Captain

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In the background on the right we see a veduta of a town with a church and a bell-tower of the Venetian type. On the left edge the remains of an inscription have been preserved: … S/ … V/ … E/ … LS/ … VIT.

The armour of the man depicted, who holds a commander’s baton in his hand, is pure fantasy and historically quite unconvincing. For further information see Cat. No. 26.

Artist Andrea Celesti

Technique oil, canvas

Dimensions 198 x 103,5 cm

Inventory number ZD S 1997043, ALU/SAZU, Ljubljana

Restored: 1981, Kemal Selmanović.
Provenance: Collection of the Attems family; Slovenska Bistrica, up to 1945, when the painting was in the castle office of Dr. Ferdinand Attems; FCC, 1945 (FCC Register, p. 208, Nos. 6439 and 6440); transferred to ALU for its envisaged gallery, 1951; on loan to the SAZU to furnish its rooms.
Exhibitions: 1960, Ljubljana, Nos. 17 and 18; 1983, Ljubljana, Nos. 21 and 22.
Lit.: Cevc 1960, p. 20, Cat. Nos. 17 and 18 (Sante Peranda (?)); Rizzi 1970, pp. 233–234, Fig. on p. 233; Rizzi 1972, p. 133, Cat. Nos. 17 and 18; Wynne 1979, pp. 654–655; Potterton 1979, p. 139; Pallucchini, I, 1981, p. 272; Zeri [& Rozman] 1983, pp. 114–115, Cat. Nos. 21 and 22, Fig. 20 and 21; Brejon de Lavergné and Volle 1986, p. 100.
(Painting is for the time being no longer exhibited.) On the left edge inscription: …S /…V / …E /…LS / …VIT.