The portraits of Élisa and Felice Baciocchi of Palazzo Orsetti in Lucca

Stefano Tofanelli, Portrait of Felice Baciocchi. Lucca, Palazzo Orsetti

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The painter from Lucca Stefano Tofanelli was named by Napoleon Senator of the Principality and, on the arrival of the Baciocchi Princes, he was confirmed in the role of “University Master of Drawing and Painting ” and elected an honorary member of the Accademia Napoleone in Lucca. As the first Court painter, he was commissioned to paint the first official image of the new sovereigns. The portraits of Élisa and Felice, completed at the end of 1805, were displayed in the Halls of the Accademia Napoleone in Lucca on 3 January 1806, on the occasion of Élisa’s birthday.

Élisa Bonaparte was depicted in the dress that she wore for the ceremony of Napoleon’s crowning as Emperor at Nôtre Dame in Paris, on 2 December 1804, which also involved Élisa’s participation. It is a rich Empire–style dress in white silk embroidered with gold thread, with a wide neckline edged in lace. Élisa is also wearing an impressive diadem and pearl earrings. Felice Baciocchi is depicted in the uniform of General of the Division, blue velvet in colour embroidered in gold with wheat stalks, oak leaves and acorns and olive leaves, and decorated with the insignia of the Toison d’Or (Golden Fleece) and the Legion of Honour.