The Paintings

The museum houses four valuable paintings taken from scenes from Spontini's operas written during his French period: Milton (1804), La Vestale (1807), Fernand Cortez (1809) and Olympie (1819). The paintings, oil on canvas with gilded wooden frames, were created by an anonymous French artist in the first quarter of the 19th century. It is not possible to determine whether these are stage sketches for upcoming performances or simple portraits of scenes from productions already staged but the artistic quality of these paintings is undoubtedly very high. Also preserved are portraits of Mr and Mrs Spontini painted in oil on canvas by an unknown French artist, dating from the early 19th century.