La fonte

He was a member of one of the leading aristocratic families in Piedmont, related through several bonds to that of the princes of Cisterna, from a cultured and liberal tradition. Both families were considerably wealthy and they used such wealth both for cultivating their interests in the arts and sciences (personally participating in the most up-to-date cultural movements) and for remaining markedly autonomous in terms of politics and thought. A follower of the Enlightenment and a reformist, the marquis was associated with Charles Albert and Victor Emmanuel II also through bonds of friendship. After marrying his cousin, Luigia Dal Pozzo, as a young man he became an enthusiast of ornithology and entomology and put together two important collections in fifteen years of studies and travels. When he moved to Paris in 1837, he donated his ornithological collection to King Charles Albert and the entomological one to the Accademia delle Scienze, and they constitute the nucleus of Turin’s natural history museums today. But Ferdinand also had artistic interests, like his father, who had dedicated himself to etching and painting. In Paris he was the president of the French Entomological Society, corresponding with various European scientific academies, and then member of the Société des Aquafortistes. He was therefore a man of vast culture, with broad international horizons. His artistic interests continued to grow and from 1846 he started participating in the Società Promotrice’s exhibitions with his works. In 1848, after the death of his wife and his young daughter, he came back to Turin, which had transformed itself into quite a more open and lively environment in a cultural and political climate in great ferment. Ferdinand was appointed president of the Società Promotrice in 1851 and in 1855 the king asked him to reform the Accademia Albertina, which he radically overhauled in a few years also appointing young foreign-trained teaching staff. After the Unification of Italy he was in charge of the reformation of the Milanese Academy, the Academies of the Emilia Region and of the Historic States, and of the Istituto Artistico of Naples. Ferdinand also organised Dante’s anniversary celebrations which took place in Florence in 1865 and then oversaw the establishment of the Bargello Museum, which was created on that occasion. The king granted him the title of duke of Sartirana in 1867 on the occasion of his niece’s Mary Victoria marriage to Amedeo of Savoy, Duke of Aosta. He had enormous influence on the artistic culture of the period and he was one of Fontanesi’s first admirers right from the beginning. The marquis was a great collector and often encouraged the purchase of Fontanesi’s works by various institutions. He also supported him until he succeeded in establishing the Chair of Landscape at the Accademia Albertina in Turin, where he was still chairman. Fontanesi received official notice of the position on January 3, 1869. Ferdinand of Breme died on January 21 in Florence, where he had moved with the court. In 1862 Fontanesi dedicated a Frontispiece for an Album of Etchings to Ferdinand of Breme with his own portrait in the act of applying the words Primi saggi acquaforte / dedicati / al mio Nobile Collega ed Ill.mo / Signor / Marchese di Breme on a wall.