Ferdinand VII (2 Viewers)

[blaster]

As if I didn't have enough on my platter, I took out the olde Tradition Joseph Bonaparte and decided that he could be converted to King Ferdinand VII.
In his later years, he grew rather corpulent so this figure would make a great starting point. So Snip Snip.
I added wire arms, Resin legs and see where we go from here.

 

[blaster]

Sculpting Fred now.

 

[blaster]

Sculpted more on the face. Legs and calves were built up. The right arm was shortened and posed. I added coattails.

The intended pose is for the figure to hold his bicorne in the right hand.

 

[Obee]

Victor,

I wasn't sure who the man was, so now I realise he was the King of Spain during the Napoleonic Wars.



Looking forward to your reproduction of this painting by Goya

Joh

 

[blaster]

Hi John,

Fred was king of Spain from 1814-1833. Fred and his father were imprisoned by Nap as a pretext to taking over Spain and Nap replaced him with his brother Joseph from 1808-1813.

I was at the Prado and visited all the Goya paintings a few years back. Up close, they are wonderful but some of his portraits are not that great looking. Eg, the Duke of Wellington portrait which was a redux of another Spanish noble. Hence, I think that the Goya ptg of Fred is dreadful.

I am instead basing the sculpt on this painting below which has more colour and glitter and he certainly was more corpulent by then.

Rgds Victor

 

[blaster]

More WIP.

 

[blaster]

Did more WIP

 

[blaster]

Sprayed with a matt primer to reveal imperfections. Hence I separated out the parts to work cleaning up the figure.

 

[blaster]

Worked a little more on this figure.

 

[MLH13]

Victor,

It's really coming along! Nice work and I appreciate the progress photos.

Mark

 

[blaster]

Hi Mark,

thanks for your very nice compliment. I like the pose of this piece and hope to work more on it. It's on the worktop where I am focusing most of my energy on the BIG ONE. hahaha.

Rgds Victor

 

[blaster]

Cleaning up the piece. Still rough. I added coattails.

 

[blaster]

cleaned up further. Added more details including buttons, the sash and orders. Stiffened the collar details.

 

[blaster]

Ive completed most of the sculpting. reassembled the arms and coattails. Almost ready for ptg.

 

[blaster]

Started to paint this fig. As you can see, this promises to be quite colourful.

 

[blaster]

I am sculpting one of the table legs. Ptg the figure with more details.

 

[blaster]

Added final details to Ferdinand. Now developing the ptg carefully.

The figure is based on a couple of ptgs, one of them by Vicente Lopez Portana, a detailed Spanish Court painter. Ferdinand is shown in the uniform of a Capitan- General, the most obvious decoration being the Order of the Golden Fleece worn around the neck. As I can't get any details on the back of the uniform, I've decided place the figure within a shadowbox. Hence I have used another less interesting portrait of the King but showing the trappings of his throne, cape and a table to recreate a small scene.

 

[theBaron]

Excellent conversion, Vic! What is the order sash he's wearing over his right shoulder? There's probably no connection, but white-blue always makes me think first of the Wittelsbachs.

Prost!
Brad

 

[blaster]

Hi Brad,

probably no connection to the Wittelsbach which was more of a blue white lozenge field emblem typical of Bavarian heraldry.

here is a detailed listing of the honours worn by Ferdinand
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_VII_of_Spain

He probably didn’t wear all his orders all together. In this portrait, clearly identified is the order of the Golden Fleece, order of Charles III (with blue white sash), order of Isabella the Catholic and (probably) military order of st Ferdinand. The iconography on this last order is not clear in the ptg.

Rgds Victor

 

[blaster]

Cleaned up Ferd a bit and resculpted the hat fringe.

Then repainted it in stages., trying to develop the details. Notice the sculpted table leg griffin.