Karl Bryullov and Italian women opera singers: On the portrait of Giuseppina Ronzi de Begnis

Although there is no trace of Bryullov’s passion for Italian opera in his published epistolary, there is no doubt that he loved it selflessly. Bryullov’s melomania becomes evident, if we consider the genesis of his most famous work, The Last Day of Pompeii, inspired not only by his visit to the ancient ruins, but also by the eponymous musical drama of 1825 by the Sicilian composer Giovanni Pacini. Bryullov’s love for Italian musical drama, which was at its peak in the first half of the 1830s, obviously manifested in three portraits of famous Italian opera singers: Fanny Tacchinardi Persiani as Amina in Vincenzo Bellini’s La Sonnambula (1834), Giuditta Pasta as Anne Boleyn in Gaetano Donizetti’s eponymous opera (1834), and Giuseppina Ronzi de Begnis as Semiramis in Gioachino Rossini’s eponymous opera (1831). The last painting, unsigned and undated, is stored in Milan, in the Exedra Hall of La Scala Museum. Until recently, it was exhibited as the work of an unknown artist, but during one of their Italian research expeditions, Ivan Bocharov and Yulia Glushakova, art historians and renowned experts in the study of the stay of 19th-century Russian artists in Italy, attributed this canvas as a portrait of Giuseppina Ronzi de Begnis by Bryullov, previously considered lost. This attribution was later questioned, since the portrait kept at La Scala seemed inconsistent with Bryullov’s skill and inspired manner; however, it is completely correct. The author declares no conflicts of interests.