1. MPS n°1 - Delusions of grandeur

MPS
MEN PORTRAITS SERIES
n°1
English text
Delusions
of
grandeur
menportraits.blogspot.com
© Francis Rousseau 2011-2020
Translation : Anne Menuhin

MEN PORTRAITS
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Delusions of grandeur
Michel Alexandrovitch Romanov (1878-1918) Grand Duke of Russia
disguised as Tsarevich (chief of the Cossacks)
of the 18th century, during the sumptuous grand costume ball
given at the Winter Palace,
February 11 and 13, 1903
in front of 3000 guests on the theme of Boyars (the former Russian nobles)
to commemorate the bicentenary of the founding of Saint Petersburg.
.
Curious destiny, that of this man who was the putative heir to the imperial throne of Russia between 1899 and
1904, at the time when his brother, Tsar Nicholas II, did not yet have a male heir. He was also a member of
the Council of State (1901), a member of the Council of Ministers (1902), Inspector General of the Cavalry
and Major General of the Imperial Russian Army during the First World War (1914-1918).
After his brother’s abdication, he was Czar of all Russia… but only for 24 hours from March 15 to 16, 1917,
under the name of Michael II before being forced by the Petrograd Soviet to renounce the throne.
From the moment of his abdication, several contradictory themes described his destiny:
- an official and historical one sees the Grand Duke as the first member of the imperial family executed (five
weeks before his brother and his family) in June 1918 by the Perm Soviet, the city where he was exiled by
Lenin.
- the other, more romantic, claims that seeing his life threatened, he was replaced by a double at the time of
his departure in exile and that he fled to Europe. He is said to have ended his life in a Provençal abbey,
disguised as a woman, under the identity of the Sapphic friend of a painter, tenant of this prestigious abbey.
Some elderly inhabitants of the village certify having seen, when they were children, this "Russian lady with a
moustache" walking in the streets of the village with her partner.
The Russian lady is supposed to have been secretly buried somewhere in the grounds of the abbey….

MEN PORTRAITS
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Delusions of grandeur
Scipione Pulzone detto Il Gaetano (1550-1598)
Portrait of Jacopo Boncompagni (1574).
The Fritz Collection, New York
The figure represented here is Jacopo Boncompagni, who is none other than the natural son of a pope, in
this case: Gregory XIII. Jacopo Boncompagni moved to Rome in 1572 as soon as his father was elected
pope and at the same time became governor of Castel Sant'Angelo and head of the papal army. He was a
newcomer to noble Roman society, whose families boasted of an ancient imperial ancestry. This portrait in
armour was therefore intended to make his rank clearly known and to spread his appearance among those
who had never seen him. Although armour was already less and less used at this time on the battlefield, it
continued to be considered a symbol of virility, military value, wealth, social status and, above all, antique
lineage, which this son of the Pope shamelessly claimed!
The figure of Saint Michael engraved on the breastplate of the armour is not only a reference to the Castel
Sant'Angeo but also to the role of Boncompagni himself as protector of the Church: "The Archangel of the
Church is me!" is what this engraved figure is meant to convey ... Jacopo's place in the Delusions of
Grandeur was therefore not usurped!
His military skills, meanwhile, are represented by the god Mars on the helmet and by the steel glove placed
on the table next to the helmet. On the golden bands which hold the plastron and the protections of the
shoulders and arms, several trophies are represented, attesting to the military prowess of the model. In the
same spirit of demonstration of Boncompagni's military prowess, we see along the central strip of the
plastron and at the base of the helmet, representations of captive Turks, commemorating the recent victory
over the Ottomans at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. In addition to these martial motifs, this prodigious
sculpted armour (a work of art in itself!) also includes symbols attesting to the character's wealth, prosperity
and eminent status, such as horns of plenty and grotesque figures carrying jars of fruit.
The braghetta (where the French word "braguette" comes from) was also meant to convey to
the viewer of the Renaissance the power of the character. This marked protuberance was
intended to enhance the wearer's manly member and thereby his supposed ability to
govern. Until the 1580s, the fly became more and more voluminous among princes and
kings, while among the peasants, they were less showy or even non-existent. Not very
fraternal for the peasants ... and obviously shamefully false! "Whether it is Charles V,
painted by Le Titien, François I by the Clouets or Maximilien II by Antonio Moro ... We
stuff the famous pocket. We match it by the doublet. It is decorated with ribbons, gilding,
jewels. And we lodge there, alongside its attributes, handkerchief, change, and even fruits
that we ripen to offer them, very lukewarm to ladies! »*
Bon appétit !
* Colette Gouvion : « Une histoire politique du pantalon »

MEN PORTRAITS
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Delusions of grandeur
A delegation of Indians from the Sioux and Arapaho tribes
who came to meet President Hayes
in 1877 in Washington..
Standing: Joe Merrivale, Young Spotted Tail, Antoine Janis.
Sitting From left to right : Touch-the-Clouds and Arapho chefs:
Sharp Nose, Black Coal and Worshinun.
The United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division
Touch the Clouds (c.1838-1905) (first on the left in the photo)
was a chief of the Minneconjou tribe Teton Lakota better
known today under the name of "Sioux". Touch the Clouds
was famous for his bravery, combat skills, physical strength and
diplomatic advice. Youngest son of Lone Horn, he was
brother of Spotted Elk, Frog and Roman Nose! He was also
probably a cousin of the famous chief Crazy Horse.
In 1875, after the death of his father, he assumed the
leadership of his tribe during the first part of the Great Sioux
War (1876-1877). After the Battle of Little Bighorn, he led his
tribe north, then went to the Spotted Tail Agency, where he
was drafted as an Indian Scout. Shortly after Crazy Horse's
death, Touch the Clouds was transferred with his entire tribe
to the authority of the Cheyenne River Agency.
In his long life as Grand Chief Sioux, he managed to meet the
American President, but neither he nor the other members of
the delegation were photographed with him.

MEN PORTRAITS
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Delusions of grandeur
Carl Larsson (1853-1919)
Male figure, 1914
Carl Olof Larsson was a Swedish
artist, draftsman, illustrator, painter
of frescos, interior decorator.
Paradoxically, the very varied styles
of this francophile painter could
easily support his family and allow
him to keep his independence of
thought while affirming
unconventional values. He became,
much like Gaudi in Spain, the painter
dreamed of by the Swedish
bourgeoisie.

MEN PORTRAITS
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Delusions of grandeur
Corneille de Lyon (1500-1575)
Portrait of Anne de Montmorency, 1533
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Mass.)
Duke and peer in 1551, Anne de Montmorency became one of the most powerful lords of France,
having nearly 600 fiefs. Lover of the arts, he protected both Bernard Palissy, and Jean Bullant,
the architect of his two castles of Chantilly and Écouen. The château d'Écouen can itself
symbolise the man that Anne de Montmorency was: both a strategic and imposing fortress, but
also a palace of the arts inspired by the greatest architectural works in Italy.
Under the reign of Henri II (1547-1559), of whom Anne de Montmorency was the mentor, he
met Philibert Delorme who worked for the king on the castles of Saint-Maur, Anet and Meudon.
In 1525, Anne was taken prisoner with King Francis I in Pavia. Released for ransom, he
negotiated the Treaty of Madrid (1526) and ended the war between François Ier and Charles V.
To thank him, the mother of King François 1er offered him the Château de Fère-en-Tardenois
for his marriage with Madeleine de Savoie.
With his wife Madeleine de Savoie, Anne de Montmorency had 12 children.
Two of his great-grandsons were eminent military leaders in the service of France:
Marshal Turenne (1611-1675) and the Grand Condé (1621-1686).
Point of interest in the History of France, a chateau fort on a hill is indicated in Fère as early as 958.
From 1206, Robert de Dreux, the brother of the king and Louis VII his son, begin to build a fortress here
whose construction was completed in 1260. The castle then passed to the first house of Valois-Orléans.
From 1528, Constable Anne de Montmorency had it transformed, adding the large covered bridge,
attributed to architect Jean Bullant. The Crown confiscated it after the torture of Henri II de
Montmorency before returning it soon after to Charlotte de Montmorency, wife of the Prince de Condé. It
thus passed to the
younger branch of the Condé, the princes of Conti,
then to the Duke of Orleans, father of Philippe Égalité.
Without any qualms or remorse, the latter
partially demolished this architectural wonder of the
Renaissance in 1779 and sold the materials and
the furniture at an auction. His creditors seized what remained
and sold it at auction in Paris
in 1793.
Nowadays, the ruins are protected and belong
to the Departmental Council while the stables
house a luxury hotel….

MEN PORTRAITS
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Delusions of grandeur
This photo was taken in the cell
of the famous chief of the
American mafia, Al Capone
(1899-1947), also known as
Scarface, during his very first
incarceration.
Dead peacefully in his bed -
although a bit eaten away by
syphilis - at the age of 48, this
American gangster made a
fortune from the smuggling of
contraband alcohol during the
prohibition but also in the
organisation of illegal gambling
dens, prostitution, blackmail and
ransom…. This delightful
character who did not have only
friends, had to settle a terrible
gang war in 1929 which he finally
resolved during a punitive
expedition known by the explicit
name of the Saint Valentine
Massacre. After this episode,
Capone reigned supreme over
Chicago ... but unlike most other
gang leaders, he did not feel
satisfied until he killed everyone
who had not pledged allegiance
to him.
This massacre on Valentine's
Day had a perverse effect on
public opinion: Capone, who
until then had benefited from the
good image of one who fought
in the name of the people against
prohibition, a sort of Robin
Hood of the bottle, suddenly
appeared as a threat and became
public enemy number 1.
It was at this point that his arrest,
the first, was arranged. To calm
public opinion, which had risen
considerably following the
Valentine's Day Massacre, it was
decided to impose a sentence of
at least… one year in prison! Al
Capone graciously accepted what
he actually considered "shelter"
because many "contracts" had
been made on his life!
The photo opposite was just as
arranged as his arrest, not to say
shamefully tampered with !!!
If it represents a cell of the State
Al Capone playing the banjo
during his first incarceration in 1929
Anonymous photographer
.
Penitentiary in Philadelphia, with
its blistered paintings, the
comparison with the cell that
Capone actually occupied ends
there. In fact, another photo
below shows the real cell that
Capone had made for himself
with bribes, a cell with carpet, old
furniture, small lamps with pretty
lampshades and separate toilets.
Nothing to do with the chipped
toilet in the photo. Did he play
the banjo or ukulele there?
The mystery remains

MEN PORTRAITS
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Delusions of grandeur
In 1886, Victoria, Queen of England and
Empress of India, commissioned Swoboda to
paint a group of Indian artisans whom she had
invited to Windsor. The queen appreciated
Swoboda's work so much that she paid him to
travel to India to paint portraits of its
inhabitants.
Queen Victoria had given Swoboda very direct
instructions: "The sketches that Her Majesty wishes
will represent the different types of nationalities that
make up the Indies. They must consist of heads the
same size as those already made for The Queen, as well
as small standing portraits. Her Majesty does not want
the images to be too large, and rather suggests that you
bring back sketches from which you will paint your
paintings after your return."
When Queen Victoria received the paintings, she
was very satisfied with them and considered
them "such beautiful heads ... beautiful things".
Swoboda then worked for the Queen for eleven
years, producing more than 40 portraits of her
South Asian subjects, which are kept today at
Osborne House. and in the collections of the
Royal Trust.
On his return from the Indies, Swoboda also
painted for the Queen a portrait of Mohammed
Abdul Karim known as The Munshi, who
remained famous in history for having been the
Indian favorite of Queen Victoria. Mohammed
Abdul Karim, born in 1863 in Lalitpur in British
India and deceased in April 1909 near Agra in
India, known as "the Munshi", was an Indian
Rudolf Swoboda Jr. (1859-1914)
Hafiz Mohammed Abdul Karim,
nicknamed The Munshi Servant of Queen Victoria
The Royal Trust Collection
,
Muslim employee of the Queen, who won the
affection of the sovereign during the last fifteen
years of her reign.
In 1887, the year of the Queen's Golden Jubilee,
he was one of two Indians chosen to become her
servant. Victoria came to take a great interest in
him and gave him the title of "Munshi", a Hindi-
Urdu word often translated as "clerk" or "teacher".
She appointed him her private secretary, covered
him with honours and obtained for him the
lifetime concession of an estate in India.
The close relationship between Karim and the
Queen led to friction within the Court, among
the members who considered themselves
superior to him. The queen pretended to hear
nothing about all this and on the contrary
insisted that Karim be present with her during
each of her trips. This relationship was even the
subject of heated discussions between the Queen
and her ministers who she would not allow to
interfere.
After Victoria's death in 1901, her successor,
Edward VII, sent Karim back to India, not
without having previously ordered the
confiscation and destruction of the
correspondence with his mother. Karim then
lived quietly near Agra, on the property that
Victoria had assigned him, until his death at the
age of 46.
A film was recently made of this extraordinary
and probably platonic love story ...

MEN PORTRAITS
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Delusions of grandeur
In 1886, his body
deformed by the alcohol
and sweets he consumed
without moderation, Louis
II was photographed
by Joseph Albert.
Louis II of Bavaria by Ferdinand von Piloty (1865)
Bayerische Staatsgemaldesammlungen,
If anyone still embodies "delusions of grandeur" in everyone's eyes, it is he, Ludwig Otto
Friedrich Wilhelm von Wittelsbach, better known as Ludwig II of Bavaria (1845-1886).
Dead at the age of 41, he incarnates all the fantasies and excesses of the 19th century.
Eccentric character, to such an extent that he was considered and declared mad, he left a
legacy which is today the heyday of German tourism! He notably ordered the
construction of several large castles and palaces such as Herrenchiemsee, replica of the
Palace of Versailles or Linderhof stuffed with extravagant gadgets (including a retractable
table in the floorffor once the meal is finished) or the most famous of all
Neuschwanstein, a grand Gothic folly intended to make people forget the suppression
of the Holy Empire.
Louis II was also the sole patron of the composer Richard Wagner, for whom he built
the Festspielhaus (Festival Palace) in Bayreuth desired by the composer to specifically
perform his works there.
In his exalted vision of the monarchy, Louis II readily took himself for Parsifal, hero of
the Sagas, who became the guardian of the Grail because of the purity of his soul. From
1871, the king allocated most of Bavarian finances as well as then his personal fortune to
his expensive artistic and architectural projects, which made him fall out of favour with
the German chancellor Otto von Bismarck.
The king's psychiatrist, Bernhard von Gudden, pointed out the heredity responsible for
his patient, both on the Wittelsbach side and on the Hohenzollern maternal side,
where many cases of madness were publicly known. Declared "mentally insane", Louis II
was interned on June 12, 1886 in the castle of Berg, south of Munich. He died the day
after his incarceration, together with his psychiatrist, during a stroll after dinner on the
lake in the castle's park. Many hypotheses were raised, including that of suicide ... which
does not seem to be plausible, however. The king is said to have died as a result of the
freezing lake water when he tried to escape from the boat after a heated conversation
with his psychiatrist. The hypothesis of an assassination was also raised without ever
having been proven….
Of this deeply romantic king who only knew how to govern with operas, improbable
castles and extravagance, Jacques Bainville wrote: "He conceived life as a spectacle of
which he pretended to regulate the details as he pleased, being the unique spectator".
According to Paul Verlaine:
"He was the only and greatest king of this century."

MEN PORTRAITS
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Delusions of grandeur
The Ten Commandments, by Cecil B. de Mille
Paramount Pictures, 1956
Yul Brynner dans le rôle du Pharaon Ramses II
,
Did he have Mongolian and Gypsy ancestry?
Was he really called Taidje Khan?
Was he born in 1915 or 1920? On the island of Sakhalin or on the mainland, at the eastern tip of
Russia?
Until his death Yuli Borissovitch Bryner dit Yul Brynner continued to feed the legend of his origins,
so that these remained for a long time shrouded in a mystery carefully kept alive by the actor and his
Hollywood producers.
More likely the son of an engineer of Swiss descent and a Jewish mother from the Russian
intelligentsia, granddaughter of a doctor converted to orthodoxy, the actor is thought to have been
born in Vladivostok in 1920.
After his father abandoned the family home in 1927, the young Yuli followed his mother to China, in
Harbin (Manchuria), where he and his sister attended a YMCA school.
In 1934, the family emigrated to Europe and settled in Paris. To earn a living, the young man sang
and played the guitar at night in cabarets, bonding in particular with the gypsy musicians whom he
accompanied at night, notably Chez Raspoutine. Then he was a trapeze artist at the Cirque d'Hiver,
then - after a serious fall -amachinist and actor at the Théâtre des Mathurins, at that time directed by
George Pitoëff.
In 1941, anew start… this time in the United States, where the future French-speaking actor, first
worked as a speaker for the US Office of War Information, which broadcast programs in French to
occupied France. He also studied theater, posed as a model and began to perform on Broadway
under the pseudonym Youl Brynner.
In 1949, he made his cinema debut, but it was in 1951 that success came with The king and I, a
musical in which he interpreted the role of the king of Siam.
In 1956, Yul Brynner had another huge success in a Paramount production: The Ten
Commandments directed by Cecil B. de Mille, and in Anastasia with Ingrid Bergman. Regarding the
Ten Commandments, legend has it that Yul Brynner was so concerned about his presence on the
screen alongside Charlton Heston that he required an intensive bodybuilding program!
After the success of the Ten Commandments in which he played the role of Pharaoh Ramses II
(above), he continued to collaborate on a few biblical peplums and a large number of exotic
adventure films or even westerns. Among the most famous: Solomon and the Queen of Sheba in
1959, The Seven Mercenaries in 1960, Taras Boulba in 1962 and Les Rois du soleil in 1963.
From 1964, he shaved his eyebrows, which had the effect of masking his real age, when certain media
and cinema people claimed that he was already over 60.

MEN PORTRAITS
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Delusions of grandeur
Maximilien-Emmanuel de Bavière
painted by Joseph Vivien (1657-1734)
Schleißheim State Gallery
Son of Elector Ferdinand-Marie and Henriette-Adelaïde of Savoy, Max Emmanuel of Bavaria
(1662-1726) is the grandson of Emperor Ferdinand II of Austria and great-grandson of King
Henry IV of France. Elector of Bavaria, first Elector of the Holy Empire and Knight of the Order
of the Golden Fleece, it seems superfluous to specify that delusions of grandeur were inscribed as
much in his education as in his genes! He was only 17 when his powerful cousins Louis XIV
(France) and Leopold I(Austria) competed to extend their influence over him. On October 9,
1685, when he married the daughter of the Austrian Emperor, Maria Antonia, her dowry
included rights to the Spanish succession. For this sumptuous wedding, aGrande Cantata was
ordered from Marc-Antoine Charpentier, cantata which explicitly bears the name of the spouses
in its title. Dead in childbirth at the age of 23, Maria Antonia was quickly replaced by the daughter
of the king of Poland, Thérèse-Cunégonde Sobieska, who gave him numerous offspring.
Tireless patron of the arts and avowed epicurean, he spent a few months in Suresnes giving
sumptuous parties in his castle and commissioning several musical works for his personal
orchestra whose instruments came from the suppliers to the court of France, notably Pierre Naust
in Paris.
An avid collector, he acquired a collection of 101 paintings, including 12 paintings by Pierre-Paul
Rubens, which today form part of the collection of the Alte Pinakothek in Munich.
Max Emmanuel spent the last years of his life continuing to build two castles, Schleissheim and
Fürstenried. In 1726, he died of a very classic stroke, not without taking care to have his heart
enshrined in a silver reliquary deposited in the Gnadenkapelle of Altötting where everyone can
now not actually see it but at least admire the reliquary !
Elector Max Emmanuel of Bavaria.
Gilded sculpture
in the apartments of the Abbot of Ottobeuren, circa 1730
.

MEN PORTRAITS
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Delusions of grandeur
Emile Friant
Self-portrait at the age of 15
Émile Friant was born in Moselle into a modest family. His father was a locksmith and his
mother a dressmaker. Gifted for drawing, barely adolescent, he asked his parents to send him
to study art. They couldn't afford it. Fortunately, awealthy client of Emile’s mother, Madame
Parisot, offered to send him to study fine arts.
Between 1874 and 1879, Émile Friant was attended the School of Fine Arts in Nancy. He was
only 15 years old when he exhibited for the first time at the Salon de Nancy.
This self-portrait as well as other works were immediately noticed. Acritic of the Progress of
the East notes the precocity of his talent: "Being already yourself when you are still a student,
seeing nature in an original way when you barely leave the benches is the best prognosis."
In 1883, Emile Friant won the Second Grand Prix of Rome with a painting entitled Oedipus
Curses his Son Polynice. In 1885, he met Constant Coquelin (1841-1909), one of the greatest
French actors of the time who initiated in 1897 the role of Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond
Rostand. Coquelin took over from Ms. Parisot and became one of Emile Friant's main patrons.
The consecration came quickly.
In 1889 - he was 26 years old - he presented La Toussaint at the Salon des Beaux-arts. This
huge 3.34 × 2.54 meter painting won the special price at the Salon and, in the same year, the
gold medal at the Universal Exhibition in Paris. Friant was made a Knight of the Legion of
Honour.
His success could not be denied, although the enthusiasm he aroused gradually cooled in the
20th century with the success of Impressionism, Fauvism and Cubism whose movements he
would never follow. Trained in painting by Cabanel, Emile Friant remained attached to him.
His evolution could be characterised in two words: loyalty and freedom. Faithful to his youth
as a child of the working class, he devoted himself in particular to genre scenes where popular
circles are often present. An accomplished sportsman, he was among the first to describe the
world of wrestlers, canoeists and swimmers ...
The aesthetic dictates of innovators did not concern him. He observed and was at times
inspired but didn't not line up. He also remained above all a studio painter. He used
photography to paint portraits exactly as hyper-realists did at the end of the 20th century. When
the world of painting swore by fauvism, he went on to printmaking, thus making use of his
exceptional talent as a draftsman.

MEN PORTRAITS
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Delusions of grandeur
1. Amenoteph IV - Akhenaton
Museum of Egyptian Antiquities
Luxor Egypt
2. Supposed skull of Akhenaton.
.
,
Amenoteph IV (c. 1371 / -1365
and dead c. -1338 / -1337) or
Amenophis IV in ancient Greek,
better known as Akhenaton (or
Khounaton) was the 10th pharaoh
of the 18th dynasty.
Controversial figure, still admired
or hated, sometimes considered as
one of the great mystics of history,
he upset, during the very short
period of his reign, the history of
Ancient Egypt by wanting to
impose monotheism on a
civilisation which had hundreds of
different gods! This unique God
of whom he was at the same time
the prophet, the disciple and the
only incarnation was called Re-
Horakhty, meaning "who is in
Aton".
The stinging failure of his selfcentered
religious reform and the
very violent conservative reaction
that ensued on the part of the
caste of the Egyptian high priests,
condemned Akhenaton to almost
total oblivion until the end of the
19th century.
Considered heretical by the
generation which succeeded him,
most of his representations and
that of his wife the very beautiful
Queen Nefertiti, were destroyed
or disfigured, his engraved
documents were passed under the
hammer, his mummy dispersed,
his memory cursed.
His centrism on the religious level
accompanied by a colossal inertia
on the political level further
precipitated the fall of the
XVIIIth dynasty.
His very ambitious failed religious
reform, however, was
accompanied by a new aesthetic,
both baroque and naturalist
known as Amarnian Art,
contrasting with Egyptian art
which had remained frozen for
millennia. Royal imagery set an
example by representing for the
first time the god-pharaoh and his
family in their intimacy. From a
stylistic point of view, the faces are
emaciated and mysterious, the
royal codes simplified to the
extreme ...
In 1910, the Egyptologist Arthur
Weigall, in his first biography (very
criticized today), sees in
Akhenaton a precursor of Christ:
"No religion around the world is as
close to Christianity as the faith of
Akhenathon" .
The list of romantic, haphazard,
eccentric, even delusional
interpretations (some even seeing
him as an extraterrestrial!) of
Akhenaton's personality did not
stop growing in the 20th century
until several thousand works were
dedicated to him.
In 1939, Sigmund Freud also took
an interest in his controversial
esoteric work "The Moses man
and the monotheistic religion",
which he began in 1910 but was
not published until his death ...
What we can safely say is that if
Delusions of Grandeur must have
an incarnation: Akhenaton is the
ideal candidate! ... And that he has
every chance of winning !!!

MEN PORTRAITS
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Delusions of grandeur
Jean-Étienne Liotard (1702-1789)
Portrait of a Grand Vizir of Ottoman Empire, Hekimoğlu Ali Pasha
.National Gallery London
The National Gallery in London wondered a lot about this painting:
"The costume corresponds well to that of a grand vizier, but the person
who wears it may not be the grand vizier but rather an ordinary Turk.
This painting had also previously been identified as a portrait of
Edward Wortley Montagu (1713-1776) and as well as a possible selfportrait
of Liotard in exotic costume.”
Would one of the two men - the painter Liotard or the ambassador
Edward Wortley Montagu - have liked to be Grand Vizier in the
Grand Vizier's place? Perhaps not acceptable, but very human and
therefore very common ... moreover later in a famous comic strip, it is
the Grand Vizier who will want to be Caliph instead of the Caliph!
A story of endless ambition !!!
But to return to this portrait, who lied?
A painting painted in 1775 by Matthew William Peter and kept at the
National Portrait Gallery in London shows (top left) Edward Wortley
Montagu in an oriental costume. No wonder! His role as ambassador
to the Sublime Porte (Turkey for simplicity!) predisposed him to
oriental disguise and his career as a somewhat spy traveler could not be
successfully carried out without a minimum of 'clothing effects' ... The
fact remains that this gentleman did not look much like the portrait of
Liotard!
As for Liotard himself (bottom left) who traveled a lot in Europe and
the Middle East to the point of being nicknamed the "Turkish painter",
he arrived in Constantinople in 1738 and lived there for 4 years,
realising on the spot many drawings and pastels of oriental subjects.
Another portrait of the Grand Vizier (on the right in thumbnail) shows
that, if the costume is the same as that of the portrait by Liotard
(although the tulip hairstyle is even more extravagant), the character
who is inside the costume, on the other hand, is not at all the same !!!
So who was this Grand Vizier who didn't look like his model?
A sort of publicity for a Grand Vizier , painted with an affable face,
more acceptable for its time?

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Delusions of grandeur
Pietro Tacca et Lodovico Salvetti
Menelas carrying Patroclus
Loggia dei Lanzi, Firenze
The loggia dei Lanzi in Piazza della Signoria in Florence has a famous sculpted group called
Menelas carrying the body of Patroclus. This is a 17th century artistic reconstruction by Pietro
Tacca and Lodovico Salvetti based on an ancient bust of the 3rd century BC discovered in Rome
in the 15th century and called the Pasquino, visible in Piazza Pasquino in Rome.
Without waiting for the sculptural representations,
we can, through ancient authors like Homer, have a
fairly precise idea of the physical appearance of
Menelas. These testimonies describe a look as
impressive as that of most Greek heroes.
Anténor remembers him when he came to Troy with
Ulysses and describes him in these terms: “When the
two mingled with the assembled Trojans, Menelas
was larger; but, if they sat down, Ulysses seemed to
be the most majestic. "
Homer insists on the blondness of his hair, so much
so that in the whole of the Iliad and the Odyssey, it is
the epithet which recurs most frequently. His long
hair, like other Greeks, looks like a lion's mane.
Homer also evokes the "strong thighs" and the
"beautiful ankles" of Menelas which he compares to
ivory, and insists on his warlike character: "loved by
Ares", "good at launching the war cry", "famous for
his spear", "the valiant". His voice is also described as
having a certain strength, his battle cry being
described as "renowned". He expressed himself well
and clearly but without reaching the eloquence of
Ulysses.
Patroclus is one of the most famous Greek warriors
of the Trojan War described in the Iliad.
In the story by Homer Patroclus “Ménœtiade” he is
presented as the intimate friend of Achilles and also
as his cousin who accompanies him to Troy.
When the Trojans threaten to invade the Greek
camp, he manages, for a time, to rout the enemy,
climbing the walls and bravely killing several
warriors, including Sarpedon, one of the sons of Zeus
... but three times he meets Apollo on his way who
throws him from his chariot. Finally he is mortally
wounded by Euphorbia who delivers him dying into
the hands of Hector. `Hector finishes him off a lance
in his back and strips him of his weapons.
Faced with such carnage and such relentlessness,
Menelas and Ajax the Great try to protect the body
of Patroclus before returning it to Achilles. This is the
subject of the sculpture opposite. Destroyed by pain
of his loss, Achilles then decides to take up arms to
avenge his friend Patroclus, without worrying about
the danger.
From the fifth century before the Christian era, the
two young people became a symbol of homosexual
relations, a symbol which Alexander the Great and
Hephæstion would claim, for example.
Plato praised Patroclus' courage.

MEN PORTRAITS
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Delusions of grandeur
Hyacinthe Rigaud (1659- 1743)
Gaspard de Gueidan (1688-1767)
Musée Granet, Aix-en-Provence
Gaspard de Gueidan (1688-1767), senior
magistrate of the parliament of Provence, was a
notable known for his ridiculous vanity. After
having acquired the office of senior magistrate,
ambition drove Gaspard de Gueidan to reach
for the high nobility. In May 1752, on land
which he had recently acquired at high cost, he
managed to obtain the title the Marquisate de
Gueidan. But Gaspard de Gueidan was not
satisfied with this situation, he wanted to erase
traces of his cattle merchant ancestors and for
that he invented others whom he traced back to
Bertrand, Count of Forcalquier.
He went so far as to seize the book The Heroic
and Universal History of the Provençal Nobility
published in Avignon in 1757 and to have his
pseudo-acsendency inserted therein as far back
as the Count of Forcalquier. The hoax did not
go unnoticed and in the 1760s several local
popular songs ridiculed the claims of Gaspard
de Gueidan. This didn't effect him overly and
he saw in this mockery the hand of his enemies
manipulating the populace.
It was then that he acquired the Convent of the
Observantins, a chapel in Aix-en-Provence in
which he installed a mausoleum around 1757 in
memory of Guillaume de Gueidan, mythical
founder before 1208 of his supposedly noble
family. The recumbent figure in the mausoleum,
sculpted by Jean-Pancrace Chastel, renowned
artist at that time, is covered with a suit of
armour that evokes the 16th century rather than
the Middle Ages and resting at his feet is a
recumbent lion. During the Revolution, the
Observantins convent was closed and the
mausoleum returned to the family who donated
it in 1836 to the Granet Museum.
Obsessively conceited, seen by today's
standards, many saw in his personality the true
incarnation of the Bourgeois Gentleman who
may have inspired Molière. Dabbling in
philosophy, music and dance, always with the
best teachers of the moment, his escapades
greatly amused the Court of Louis XIV. He
even aspired for a moment to entering the newly
created French Academy. Cruelly, the courtiers
let him do it. His candidacy was the laughing
stock of Paris at a time which was in fact more
unforgiving than the Paris of the 20th century.
He never entered under the Dome but even
better ... never understood why! Le Bourgeois
Gentilhomme, in all his ridiculous splendour!
His portrait was painted twice by Hyacinthe
Rigaud, in 1719 then in 1734 (opposite), for a
commission delivered in 1738.
Hyacinthe Rigaud is considered one of the
most famous French portrait painters of the
classical period. In the portrait above, in the
background of which appears a magnificent
Sainte-Victoire mountain, the painter willingly
demonstrates the self importance and
ridiculousness of the model who seems to
surprise even his dog!

MEN PORTRAITS
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Delusions of grandeur
Giuseppe Castiglione (1688–1766)
Equestrian portrait of the Chinese Emperor Qianlong in ceremonial armour, 1758
The Palace Museum, Beijing
Giuseppe Castiglione, was an Italian Jesuit missionary in China and painter at the Imperial Court.
In 1716 he took the Chinese name of Lang Shining ( 郎 世 宁 / 郎 世 寧 ) which means Man of the
Quiet World. Strict respect for etiquette (never offensive, nor direct criticism of Chinese ideas)
allowed him to become one of the cohort of painters accredited to the Imperial Court of China, a
privilege very rare especially for a westerner. He trained other Jesuit artists to adopt the same
approach as he and he also had a large number of Chinese students who became famous. His
faculty for artistic compromise between Western realism and the spiritualism of Chinese art
(avoiding shadows, adopting Chinese secondary motifs) is the source of the artistic synthesis which
assured him recognition by three successive emperors of the Qing dynasty as the best artist of
their painting studios.
The Chinese Emperor Qianlong had a long reign of over 60 years, which he voluntarily
interrupted so as not to reign longer than his illustrious ancestor Kangxi. Emperor Qianlong
brought China to its peak and extended its borders further than anyone before him. Mongolia,
Tibet, Nepal, Burma ... all recognized themselves as tributaries of the "Son of Heaven" (very
modest nickname of the Emperor) and agreed to pay him a heavy tribute and to practice ritual
prostration, the kotow, in his presence.
The emperor, Qialong was not only a conqueror, he was also and above all a scholar, a
philosopher, a painter and a poet, showing, like his grandfather, a great affection for the Jesuit
scientists and artists who surrounded him. In order to retain their posts they all formally renewed
the ban on the preaching of Catholicism in China. This paradox, which seems difficult to conceive
of today, succeeded in ensuring fruitful relations between the West and China, proof both of the
Emperor's great diplomatic intelligence and of the Jesuits' open-mindedness.
Inside the border, Qianlong maintained order, mainly relying on Confucian scholars and
Mandarins, senior officials recruited on the basis of literary competitions. These measures,
combined with a slight global warming and better harvests, led to a rapid population increase, an
obvious sign of prosperity: according to official censuses, the Chinese population increased from
60 million in 1578 to 105 million in 1661, 182 million in 1766 and 330 million in 1872. (...)
Towards the end of his reign, Qianlong transferred much his power to a favorite, Heshen, a
former soldier whose beauty had captivated him. As an all powerful minister, Heshen allowed the
cancer of corruption to develop throughout the administration. A new emperor, Jiaqing ,forced
him to commit suicide soon after Qianlong's death.

MEN PORTRAITS
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Delusions of grandeur
Vincenzo Catena (1470-1531)
Portrait of the Doge Andrea Gritti (c. 1523-31)
Oil on canvas, 97.2 x 79.4 cm )
National Gallery, London
ndrea Gritti (1455-1538) was elected Doge, that is to say chief of the
Serenissima Republic of Venice, in 1523. This painting was probably
carried out shortly there after. He wears his official Doge costume and
on a finger of his left hand, a gold ring representing the Doge kneeling
before Saint Mark, the patron saint of Venice.
This portrait by Catena successfully expresses the power, authority and
greatness of the Doge Gritti, whose military and diplomatic career was
extremely brilliant. His face is depicted almost in profile on a dark
background, like the profile of a king on a medal.
He seems to be looking towards someone who is outside the frame while
making us a sign with his right hand whose pointed finger could be a
rhetorical gesture, recalling his skills as a politician.
The Dogat was a position for life which gave the power to decide
war and peace, to command the armies, to appoint civil
and ecclesiastical functions, to preside over the senate ... but
the Doge could not take any resolution without the consent
of the Council of Ten.
Money was minted in the name of the Doge, but not with his arms; he
could not choose a wife elsewhere than in Venice. Upon assuming his
functions he presided over a ceremony which officially married him to
the Adriatic sea, ausage which emphasised the extent of the Venetian
control over the world's seas.
The first Doge was Paolo Lucio Anafesto in 697.
The 120th and last Doge, Ludovico Manin, was in exercise
when the Republic of Venice was conquered by the French armies
in 1797.

MEN PORTRAITS
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Delusions of grandeur
Bernard Boutet de Monvel (1881-1949)
H.R.H the Maharadjah of Indore, 1933
Maharajadhiraj Raj Rajeshwar Sawai Shri Yeshwant Rao II Holkar XIV Bahadur 1(1908-1961) was a Maharaja of Indore
belonging to the Marathi dynasty of Holkar. Endowed with an immense fortune made up notably of sumptuous jewels, like the
famous "pears of Indore" which he wears in this painting attached to a necklace of two rows of pearls, Yeshwant Rao traveled
extensively and often stayed in Europe and in France where he owned two properties, one in Villefranche-sur-Mer and the other
near Fontainebleau. Advised by his friend Henri-Pierre Roché, with whom he was part of the "tout Paris" of the inter-war
period, he purchased luxurious cars and lived between two liners passing from Cannes to Cuba, Los Angeles, New York or even
Peru … He became interested in modern art and had Indore build a palace, Manik Bagh (Ruby Garden), designed by the
German architect Eckart Muthesius and furnished by the greatest designers of modern European art such as Ruhlmann, Sognot
, Eilen Gray, Le Corbusier, Herbst, Da Silva, Bruhns and Puiforcat. The Maharaja also purchased a black marble version of the
Brancusi Bird.
n 1928, he bought the Château d'Hennemont in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, where his father lived, and called it Château Holkar.
The Holkar dynasty began with Malhar Rao who joined the Peshwa service in 1721, ruled Indaur (Indore) in India as Rajas
Marathe then Maharaja. The Holkar were one of the most prestigious dynasties in India whose name was associated with the
very title of the ruler, called Maharaja Holkar or Holkar Maharaja, the official title being "Maharajadhiraj Raj Rajeshwar Sawai
Shri (name) Holkar Bahadur, Maharaja of Indore, or just the colonial style of "His Highness ”.
A heavy cigar and cigarette smoker, Yeshwant Rao died of cancer in a Bombay hospital on December 5, 1961. He left a son,
Richard Shivaji Rao Holkar Maharajkumar Shrimant Bahadur born in 1944, but excluded from the succession due to the
irregular marriage of his parents, and a daughter, Rani Maharanidhiraja Rajeshwar Sawai Shrimant Usha Devi Maharaj Sahib
Akhand Soubhagyavati Holkar, born on 20 October 1933 in Paris, who inherited all his titles and possessions.
The worldly painter Bernard Boutet de Monvel already enjoyed great notoriety when the Maharajah called on him to produce
several portraits, first in 1929 and then in 1933 (opposite) as well as two portraits of his wife. In 1934 he exhibited portraits of
the Maharani and Maharajah of Indore in court costumes at the Wildenstein gallery in New York.
The Indore pears are two very large white diamonds of 46.95 and
46.70 carats which, as their name suggests, are pear shaped. Part of
the treasure of the Maharajas of Indore since the 18th century, they
were worn by Maharadj Rao II Holkar XIV Bahadur 1 (opposite),
then by his daughter in law Maharani Shamista Davi Holkar, wife
of Maharaja of Indore Tukoji Rao III. The latter, following his
divorce, abdicated and married the American Nancy Ann Miller,
to whom this generous lord left them, these excellent good pears, as a
separation gift!
They are now in a private American collection.

MPS
MEN PORTRAITS SERIES
n°1
English text
That’s it…
For the moment …
Because with MPS
nothing ever ends…
Surprises from the blog
will soon enhance these
thematic series…
menportraits.blogspot.com
© Francis Rousseau 2011-2020
Translation : Anne Menuhin