Carlo Emanuele III di Savoia

In the eighteenth century, Clementina was the leading portraitist of the Savoy dynasty and of the Pied-montese aristocracy, whom she portrayed with great emphasis on the effects of the materials and with skilful touches of her brush picking out the light on details. Her portraits of members of the royal family were sent to the leading courts of Europe and given to nobles, officials, churches, and communities within the Kingdom. Charles Emmanuel III (1701-1773) is shown here in full dress, with the collar of the equestrian Order of the Annunziata and the insignia of power on a cushion. The symbols of the dynasty – the knot, the silver cross and the black eagle – appear on the red-velvet and ermine cloak. Palazzo Madama also has one of Clementina’s first paintings, a portrait of Christine Louise of Bavaria (1722), the wife of Charles Em-manuel III.