Carte de visite Paul Frecker The Italian sculptor Baron Carlo Marochetti had an internationally successful career. He was made a baron in his native country, was awarded the Legion of Honour in France, and was patronized by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in England, where he worked from 1848. However, his dramatic style, exemplified in his equestrian statue of Richard the Lionheart (1851-60) outside the Houses of Parliament was considered rather flashy in England. A miniature copy of the statue, in bronze, appears next to Marochetti in this portrait.
Marochetti and his immediate family visited Silvy's studio on more than one occasion, and Silvy used several of the sculptor's bronzes as props in a large number of his portraits. For an interesting essay on this, see Carlo Marochetti et les photographes in issue number 104 of the Revue de l'Art, published in 1994.
