Lot 72 Dα

Emperor Napoleon III appointed General Goyon as Commander of the French troops in Rome in 1856. The troops conquered the Roman church state on 3rd July 1849 and thus the Roman Republic ended just three months after its proclamation. Goyon quickly gained the confidence of Pope Pius IX (the last „Papa Rè“, Papal King), and only a few months after his arrival on 10th June 1857 he was granted the Order of Pius. Goyon wears the order in this portrait and it can thus be used as a post quem for dating the work. The painter of the unsigned portrait could be Hippolyte Flandrin who also painted a portrait of Goyon's wife (Musèe Ingres, Montauban). One of the last portraits by Flandrin is of Napoleon III, painted in 1862 (today in Versailles).