Jean-Baptiste-Joeseph Wicar Portrait of Emma, Lady Hamilton Black chalk Presumably drawn in the early 1790s when Emma was at the height of her fame. In 1791 she and Sir William Hamilton, the British envoy to the Kingdom of Naples, had married and embarked on a tour of the major European cities, including Rome, where Wicar was working at that time and where this drawing was probably made. By the end of that year they had settled back in Hamilton's magnificent apartments in the Palazzo Sessa in Naples. From the time of Emma's association with Hamilton, first as mistress then as wife, she was painted and sketched by some of the great portrait painters of Europe; Romney alone made almost fifty images of her. Among others who recorded her were Vigée-Le Brun, Reynolds, Kauffman, Novelli and Lawrence. Wicar had moved to Italy in 1784 when still a pupil of David. Apart from short visits to Paris he remained there until his death in 1834. He visited Naples frequently and became Director of the Academy there after 1805. Wicar appears to be showing Emma in one of her famous 'Attitudes', elaborate tableaux in which the famous beauty enacted both historical figures and personifications of such emotions as 'Sorrow', 'Ecstasy', 'Contrition' etc. These 'Attitudes' were renowned throughout Europe and recorded in word and picture. |
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