Pope Pius IX, Wood Engraved Portrait, Dittmarsch, Stuttgart, circa 1850

A portrait of Pope Pius IX lettered in German "Papst Pius IX." (Pope Pius IX), with the line "Stich und Verlag von C. Dittmarsch's Kunstanstalt in Stuttgart." (engraved and published by C. Dittmarsch's art establishment in Stuttgart). The pope is shown as he looked in the first years of his reign: a full, clean shaven face, short hair beneath the white zucchetto, seated half length in a carved armchair and raising his right hand in blessing. Over his fur trimmed mozzetta he wears an embroidered stole decorated with crosses and scrolling ornament, tied at the chest with a cord and tassels.

The portrait is cut in wood, in the bold black line manner that German publishing houses used for popular portraits and illustrated papers, and it is printed with a letterpress caption on a large sheet without a plate mark. The directness of the line gives the face a strong, graphic presence on the wall.

Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti (1792 to 1878) was elected pope in 1846 and reigned for almost thirty two years, the longest pontificate after that of Saint Peter. His early reforms in the Papal States made him a popular hero across Europe in 1846 and 1847, and portraits of the new pope were issued in great numbers in Germany as in Italy and France. The revolutions of 1848 ended that brief liberal season. He went on to proclaim the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854, to convene the First Vatican Council in 1869, which defined papal infallibility, and to see the end of the Papal States with the taking of Rome in 1870. He was beatified in 2000.

The youthful likeness, made before the heavier features of his later portraits, places the print around 1850.

An interesting document of the fame of Pius IX in the German speaking world, suited to a collection of papal portraits, Catholic history or nineteenth century popular prints.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.