Portrait of Emmanuel Rio
1836
Medium
Oil on panel
Dimensions
39 × 31.7 cm (15 3/8 × 12 1/2 in.); Framed: 57.2 × 49.6 cm (22 1/2 × 19 1/2 in.)
Classification
painting
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
184372
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Previously known only as “a gardener and horn player,” recent research has identified the figure in this painting as Emmanuel Rio, an enslaved Brazilian man of African descent who was sent to Emperor Francis I in Vienna around 1820. About ten years old when he arrived in Vienna, Rio was enrolled in an elite private school, where he excelled in French, Italian, drawing, and especially music. Francis fostered his talent, gifting Rio a French horn on the occasion of his graduation. Despite his apti...