. Bulletin - United States National Museum. Science. scntcd in his malurc years as bareheaded or with a laurel wreath. But with this crown, emblem of mo- narchic power, Rega certainly was alluding to the re- actionary monarchy introduced by the king. This head of Ferdinand I is a highly idealized por- trait of the aged king. The patrician features hardly suggest a likeness of the man who reintroduced the "whole apparatus of despotism," when "freedom was strangulated on the gallows and smothered in dun- ; '**' A symbol of royal power by the grace of God, his aspiration
. Bulletin - United States National Museum. Science. scntcd in his malurc years as bareheaded or with a laurel wreath. But with this crown, emblem of mo- narchic power, Rega certainly was alluding to the re- actionary monarchy introduced by the king. This head of Ferdinand I is a highly idealized por- trait of the aged king. The patrician features hardly suggest a likeness of the man who reintroduced the "whole apparatus of despotism," when "freedom was strangulated on the gallows and smothered in dun- ; '**' A symbol of royal power by the grace of God, his aspirations an anachronism, his acts an of- fetise against liberty, Ferdinand I died tormented by the prospect of the rising movement of national free- dom which was advancing inexorably. Political events, however, did not have any effect on Rega's work; impassively he served them all, godlike heroes or human failures, glorifying the symbol they repre- sented rather than the human beings they I'ig. 75.—, Francis I, 30 ducals, 1826 '*^ (Div. of Numismatics photo) Ferdinand's successor, Francis I (1825-1830), a weak and timorous personality, was a vacillating fig- ure on the royal throne. Rega tried again to embel- lish, if not to idealize, his king, however trivial the figure. During the short reign of Francis I, only a single portrait of him was used for the gold, silver, and copper coinage (fig. 75). A similar representa- tion was also used on many medals '** signed by Francesco d'Andrea, Vincenzo Catenacci, and even Andrea Carriello. Although different in execution from a medal, with the low relief typical of Neapolitan coins in this period, the portrait on this coin resembles more closely the portrait on the medals signed by d'Andrea (fig. 76) and we arc safe in assuming that he was the artist who executed it. The subtle and well-flowing plastic forms display a genuinely human serenity, which contrasts greatly with a contemporary portrait of the king by the French meda
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Keywords: ., bookauthorun, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectscience
