Un dipinto inedito di Andrea Appiani e alcune note sulla prima dominazione francese a Milano

the Portrait of Eugénie Raffeneau de Lile, an unpublished painting by Andrea Appiani, is guarded in a private Parisian collection. A signature confirmes its authenticity. the painting is part of the first series of portraits dedicated by Appiani to Napoleon bonaparte and his entourage. the model in the painting was the wife of Jean baptiste Louis Pinsot d’Armand, a civil commissioner sent to Milan in the spring of 1796 by the Executive Directory of the French republic to support the Army of Italy. Eugénie raffeneau de Lile’s private correspondence evokes the context in which the painting was created. Her husband, Jean baptiste Pinsot, was particularly unpopular in Milan, both for his role in collecting military contributions imposed by bonaparte and Saliceti on the old provinces of Austrian Lombardy, both for his collaboration with the Commission des Saisies in requisitioning works of art to be sent to Paris. Andrea Appiani was also involved in this last assignment, after Pinsot’s return to Paris.