FERDINAND I OF THE TWO SICILIES by Francesco Guardi c. 1770Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies was the great-great-grandson of Louis XIV of France…
“He [Louis XIV] also had a daughter who was not acknowledged...There was a nun in the Abbaye de Moret who was supposed to be his daughter. She was EXTREMELY SWARTHY, and otherwise resembled him”
SOURCE;
(Voltaire, “The Age of Louis XIV.: To which is Added, an Abstract of The Age of Louis XV”; 1780)
“Some people suspected, and not without reason, that a certain lady in the abbey of Moret was Louis's daughter. She was VERY BROWN, and resembled him in every other respect”
SOURCE;
(Thomas Pike Lathy, “Memoirs of the Court of Louis XIV. Comprising Biography and Anecdotes of the Most Celebrated Characters of that Period, Styled the Augustan Era of France. In Three Volumes.; 1819)
“Louis XIV [had] arched eyebrows, aquiline nose, and [a] BROWN complexion”
SOURCE;
(James Peller Malcom, "Londinium Redivivum Or an Ancient History and Modern Description of London, Compiled from Parochial Records, Archives of Various Foundations, the Harleian Mss. and Other Authentic Sources"; 1802)
We are also told that the skin on his WELL PRESERVED corpse was as black as ink...
“Louis XIV was also in good preservation, but his skin was as BLACK as ink”
SOURCE;
(Sir Richard Phillips, "The Monthly Magazine" Vol.13; 1802)
To be clear, there is no question that Mummified skin can darken after being exposed to air...
But at the same time, as relates to the level of darkness: where you end up, is dependent on where you began....
Louis XV died in 1774, and according to historical records from 1775, he had a Swarthy skin complexion...
“Lewis XV was the handsomest youth in France, he had a swarthy complexion”
SOURCE;
(J. Dodsley, "The Annual Register, Or, A View of the History, Politics, and Literature for the Year 1774"; 1775)
The word Swarthy or Swart derives from ‘Schwarz’ or ‘Schwartz’ which means “to be black; black man, and negro
SOURCE;
(Flügel-Schmidt-Tanger, a Dictionary of the English and German Languages for Home and School; 1905)
COMPLEXION = the natural color, texture, and appearance of a person's SKIN especially of the face.
Francesco Lazzaro Guardi was an Italian painter, nobleman, and a member of the Venetian School…
He is considered to be among the last practitioners, along with his brothers, of the classic Venetian school of painting…
The narrative that museum curators present about portraits like this one often follows a familiar pattern when it comes to depicting Black Europeans…
They invent a backstory without any concrete evidence, usually suggesting that the person in the painting was a slave or a servant, thereby denying any possibility of Black nobility or high status in Europe…
In this case, they claim that the subject is a man named “Lazzaro Zen”, from Guinea, “likely a slave”, without providing any firsthand or primary sources to support these statements…
The narrative surrounding “Lazzaro Zen” is not just flimsy; it’s downright ridiculous when you consider that both the painter, Francesco Lazzaro Guardi, and the figure in the portrait share the same name, “Lazzaro.”
This absurd coincidence raises an eyebrow to the entire story and suggests a fabrication of historical identity rather than a legitimate account of an individual’s life…
The portrayal of “Lazzaro Zen” in the context of historical narratives raises significant concerns, particularly given the lack of any firsthand or primary sources that actually reference a figure by that name…
In academic and historical discourse, the absence of verifiable documentation calls into question the legitimacy of claims made by curators and historians regarding this character…
If there are no records or contemporary accounts that identify “Lazzaro Zen,” one must wonder how curators and art historians arrived at this narrative in the first place…
This is a clear example of a Eurocentrick attempt to control the historical narrative and suppress the reality of Black presence and power in European history…
These curators are quick to claim that any Black figure in European portraits was an “African slave” or a product of slavery…
This “African slave” explanation is thrown out without requiring any real proof, simply because it fits a more comfortable and less disruptive narrative to those who want to maintain an all-white image of European aristocracy…
What they avoid discussing is the fact that portraits in this era were primarily reserved for nobility, clergy, or high-ranking individuals…
Slaves were not draped in velvet, silk, fur and jewelry, and they certainly weren’t immortalized by the finest painters of the time…
The portrayal of his clothing—luxurious fabrics, embroidery, and fur trimmings—speaks to wealth and status, not servitude…
There’s a clear intent here to immortalize this figure as a person of significance, yet curators quickly try to diminish that by turning him into a victim of their reductive “slave” narrative…
Francesco Guardi was primarily active in Venice during the 18th century during a time when the Bourbon family had significant influence in Europe, especially in Spain and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies…
The Bourbons were linked to various courts, including that of Naples, which at times had ties to Venice due to political alliances…
Ferdinand I was King of the Two Sicilies from 1816 until his death…
Before that he had been, since 1759, King of Naples as Ferdinand IV and King of Sicily as Ferdinand III…
He was deposed twice from the throne of Naples: once by the revolutionary Parthenopean Republic for six months in 1799, and again by a French invasion in 1806, before being restored in 1815 at the end of the Napoleonic Wars…
Given the firsthand descriptions of Ferdinand I’s ancestors, particularly the “swarthy” or “Brown complexion” of individuals like Louis XIV, the more accurate representation of Ferdinand would likely be closer to that of “Lazzaro Zen” than the artificially whitened and exaggerated portrait often attributed to him…
Historical records describe Louis XIV, Louis XV, and their relatives as having distinctly swarthy complexions, far from the pale depictions that many later portraits attempt to impose…
These firsthand accounts are essential in understanding the European aristocracy’s appearance, particularly in the context of Southern Europe, where populations were historically influenced by Moorish ancestry…
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