The royal seal of approval
Empress Elisabeth of Austria, better known as Sisi, visited Switzerland nine times and was an admirer of Swiss art, of which she purchased two pieces – setting in motion a trail of events that led all the way to the Federal Palace in Bern.
Michael van Orsouw
Michael van Orsouw has a PhD in history and is a performance poet and author. He regularly publishes historical books.
Website: geschichte-texte.ch
Just to the left of the monumental mural is a sculpture of William Tell in a niche. He is sitting on a rock gazing into the distance, his crossbow placed over his knee seems to be the last thing on his mind. Ticino sculptor Antonio Chiattone produced this work, also in 1902, before the Federal Palace was opened.
Charles Giron (1850–1914) was managing an art studio in Territet (canton of Vaud) at the time. In March 1898, Sisi visited his premises and purchased his oil painting La nourrice. It shows an Italian wet nurse breastfeeding a baby. It was an intimate scene painted by Giron, and one which was rarely depicted at the time. That may have piqued Sisi’s interest, even if she never breastfed her own offspring and found small children rather tiresome.
The statue and shrouded figure in the bedroom
The sale of his sculpture to the Empress propelled Chiattone from relative obscurity as an artist only known within his region to someone of international repute who could exhibit in Milan or Paris if he wished. Chiattone also made another piece for the Empress; she actually commissioned him to perform a major work. He was to create a monument for her imperial Achilleion villa in Corfu in memory of her son Rudolf, the crown prince and successor to the throne who had committed suicide in 1889.
It was a great honour to receive a commission from the Empress for such a personal monument. Her Majesty preferred Chiattone over many famous Austrian artists. The Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper praised the order as a ‘success for the Swiss arts sector in general and Ticino artistry in particular’. Antonio Chiattone completed three drafts and presented elaborate sketches to Sisi. She received them enthusiastically. A few months later, the monument stood ready in his Lugano workshop. Chiattone dismantled it and took the statue to Corfu to put it up and attend the inauguration. The Ticino native’s work was an imposing piece from all angles at six metres high and three metres wide.
A grand unveiling and a royal faux pas
Elisabeth of Austria then extended her hand to the Ticino sculptor for him to kiss, as was the custom at the time. However, Chiattone not being versed in royal etiquette did not know that. He took Elisabeth’s hand unceremoniously in his own rather large, strong sculptor’s hands and pressed it with an overflowing exuberance, which must have caused embarrassment in the royal court. Nonetheless, the Empress pretended not to notice the artist’s faux pas.
Some years later, following Sisi’s violent death in 1898 on the shore of Lake Geneva, Chiattone was commissioned to make the memorial – the Sisi monument in the Parc des Roses, Montreux-Territet. It is a life-size statue of the Empress sitting on a bench, her chin resting on her left arm as she gazes somewhat wistfully over Lake Geneva.
The upshot of this tale is: if the Empress had not purchased Giron’s and Chiattone’s art, their careers would not have taken off in that way and they would not have had the opportunity to leave their artistic legacy in the National Council Chamber. It’s an ironic quirk of history that royal approval led to their being awarded the mandate to provide the artwork for the National Council Chamber, a place synonymous with Swiss democracy.
