Painting of the Day: Tasso Reading Before the Duke of Ferrara, 1815

Tasso Reading Before the Duke of Ferrara
1815
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Here, we see an impressive historical scene by Elie-Honoré Montagny (died 1864). Montagny was born in Paris and studied under the famed Jacques Louis David (1748-1825). He Montagny ultimately traveled to Italy where he was appointed official painter to the Queen Caroline in Naples.

This magnficent canvas is an ideal example of French historical painting from the early Nineteenth century. We see a scene of the Italian author Torquato Tasso reading before the Duke and Duchess of Ferrara. Montagny executes this scene in the Neoclassical manner with his typical accuracy and attention to detail. Furthermore, this work is considered to be representative of the “Troubadour Style,” a subsection of the Neoclassical movement, which focussed on subjects from the medieval and Renaissance times.