19th century
Sabancı University, Sakıp Sabancı Museum
Istanbul, Turkey
This portrait won the bronze medal at the Paris exhibition of 1889, the year after it was painted. Halil Pasha, who was part of the Asker Ressamlar (Soldier Artists), founded a new Ottoman art tradition inspired by the Western style, and worked with Jean Leon Gérôme at his atelier in Paris.
Edward Jenner, Marble Group by Giulio Monteverde
1878
National Central Library
Rome, Italy
The engraving celebrates the work of Monteverde. Contemporary reports say that at the 1878 Paris exhibition the marble version of the sculpture was awarded the Medal of Honour and the public received it enthusiastically.
Proximus tuus [Latin: Your Neighbour]
1880
National Gallery of Modern Art (GNAM)
Rome, Italy
The sculpture denounces the brutal hopelessness of rural work with solemn realism. It was exhibited at several International Exhibitions, including those held in Munich in 1883, Antwerp in 1885 and St Louis in 1904.
1882 (fusion 1895)
National Gallery of Modern Art (GNAM)
Rome, Italy
This relief sculpture by Vincenzo Vela is a tribute to the many workers who died during construction of the Gotthard railway tunnel in Switzerland (1871‒81). The artist affirmed that he had not been commissioned to make the work, but had personal reasons for making it. It was cast in bronze at the request of the Ministry of Education in 1895 and exhibited at the Paris exhibition of 1900.
Edward Jenner Inoculates his Small Son with the Smallpox Vaccine
c. 1878
National Gallery of Modern Art (GNAM)
Rome, Italy
The sculpture by Giulio Monteverde represents Edward Jenner, inventor of the smallpox vaccine, inoculating his own son with the very first dose. The work was exhibited at Vienna’s first International Exhibition in 1873, where it won the gold medal. The marble version was exhibited in 1878 at the Paris exhibition, where it won the Medal of Honour.
1896
National Gallery of Modern Art (GNAM)
Rome, Italy
First presented at the International Exhibition of Art in Florence, this portrait attracted the attention and critical acclaim of the public since its first appearance in 1897. In fact, so admired was the work that it was reproduced on postcards.
1905
National Gallery of Modern Art (GNAM)
Rome, Italy
Shown in 1911 at the International Exhibition of Fine Arts in Rome, Klimt’s work won a prize and was then bought by the Italian state. In the work, the vogue for Orientalism that had spread among artists who wanted to free themselves from the conventions of Western art is apparent, as are the Byzantine mosaics Klimt saw in Ravenna in 1903.