ITALIAN, CIRCA 1816 | CAMEO WITH TSAR ALEXANDER I OF RUSSIA (1777-1825)

A possible attribution for this elegant cameo portrait of Alexander I might be found in the Roman gem engraver Giuseppe Girometti (1780-1851). The carving compares with Girometti's jugate cameo with Alexander and his wife Empress Elizabeth Alexeievna in the collections of the Hermitage Museum (inv. no K-1100). In many of his gems Girometti carved the stone so that the reddish layer would appear in the cheeks, thus imitating blush. Compare, for example, with the cameo with George IV published in T. Holman, Multum in Parvo: A Collection of Engraved Gems, exh. cat. Wartski, London, 2019, no. 90. Emperor Alexander I of Russia was one of the key figures in the downfall of Napoleon. Having forced the French into a humiliating retreat from Moscow, on 31 March 1814 Alexander marched into Paris and forced Napoleon to abdicate. He was instrumental in restoring the Bourbons to the throne on the advice of Talleyrand, and played a key role at the Congress of Vienna.