Portret van Giuseppe Verdi before 1877

Jean Nicolas Truchelut made this portrait of Giuseppe Verdi, seemingly as part of an illustrated journal. On first impression, this looks like a straightforward celebration of the Italian composer, but the portrait sits within a specific cultural and institutional context that shapes its meaning. Looking closely, we see the words “Paris Theatre” emblazoned at the top, suggesting this image was made in France, and the presence of the words “Journal Republicain Conservateur” suggests a conservative leaning. How might this impact the image we see before us? Verdi was an outspoken supporter of Italian unification and a symbol of Italian national identity. Given the conservative politics of the illustrated journal, how might this portrait have been used to shape public opinion about the composer in France? Historians can access a wide range of resources to better understand works of art like this one. Newspaper archives, library collections and other historical documents allow us to reconstruct the cultural context in which art is made and thus understand its meaning more fully.