Portrait of Luigi Sommariva 1820

This is Giovanni Beltrami’s “Portrait of Luigi Sommariva,” made with chalcedony. Encased in gold, the portrait presents a study in contrasts: the hardness of the stone against the soft contours of the figure, the opaqueness of the carving against the transparency of the lens. Beltrami’s choice of chalcedony and the intaglio technique are critical. Intaglio involves carving into the material, here the stone, creating a design that is recessed. This approach inverts traditional sculptural values, where form projects outward. Instead, the image is embedded, almost as if it’s emerging from the depths of the material itself. The choice to render Sommariva in this way introduces a semiotic tension. The portrait is not merely representational but becomes an index of absence and presence, depth and surface. The interplay between the properties of the chalcedony and intaglio demonstrates an engagement with ideas central to structuralism. The artwork challenges our understanding of the relationship between the signifier—the carved portrait—and the signified—Luigi Sommariva—and invites ongoing interpretation.