PIUS X, Pope
Description:
Bust-length, oval of head and shoulders. Oil on canvas, signed and dated 1908.
Location:
Historisches Museum, Gotthardstrasse, Altdorf, Uri, Switzerland. (INV. 117)
Bibliography:
Possibly American Art News, Vol. 7, No. 2, New York, October 24, 1908, p. 3
Possibly New York Evening Mail, October 26, 1908
Schweizer Illustrierte Zeitung, 1660, No. 51, 1939 (reproduced)
Ringier’s Unterhaltigs-Blatt, Switzerland, May 23, 1942 (reproduced) – ‘Ein Schweizer, der Papste und Könige malte’ by Emil Luthard
Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto was born on June 2, 1835. He was elected Pope on August 4, 1903 and died on August 20, 1914, aged 81. He was beatified in 1951 and canonised in 1954.
It is uncertain if this was the picture exhibited at FRENCH & CO. INC., April 21 – May 3, 1947, No. 1, but it was probably still in the artist’s studio at his death, when it was shipped back to Switzerland by Otto Muller. Probably given to the Museum by Lina Müller.
