CDV: Italian revolutionary FELICE ORSINI

Pricing & History

Sold for
Start Free Trial or Sign In to see what it's worth.
Sold Date
Source eBay

Felice Orsini (1819-1858), Italian revolutionary. Born in the Papal States in 1819, Orsini was encouraged to become a priest but abandoned the Church and became an ardent liberal, joining La Giovine Italia , a society founded by Giuseppe Mazzini. Arrested in 1844, along with his father, Orsini was condemned to life imprisonment for his part in revolutionary plots, but was freed by the new pope, Pius IX. During the first war of Italian independence in 1848, he led a young company of Romagnols, distinguishing himself in the engagements at Treviso and Vicenza. In 1849 Orsini was elected a member of the Roman Constituent Assembly, and after the fall of the republic he conspired against papal autocracy. Mazzini sent him on a secret mission to Hungary, but he was arrested in 1854 and imprisoned at Mantua. He escaped a few months later using a tiny saw to cut through the bars on his window, which he then climbed through, and descended the 100 feet to the ground using a rope he had made out of bedsheets. He briefly visited Britain in 1856, w he received a favorable welcome. In 1857 he published an account of his prison experiences in English under the title of The Austrian Dungeons in Italy , which led to a rupture between him and Mazzini. Undaunted, the following year he published The Memoirs and Adventures of Felice Orsini. Around this time Orsini became convinced that Napoleon III was the chief obstacle to Italian independence and the principal cause of the anti-liberal reaction throughout Europe. He plotted his assassination, thinking that after the emperor's death France would rise in revolt and the Italians could exploit the situation with a revolution of their own. In 1857 he went to Paris and began to lay the plans of his conspiracy. Toward the end of the year, he briefly visited England w he contacted gunsmith Joseph Taylor, asking him to make six copies of a bomb of Orsini's own design. Having tested the bombs, which were designed to explode on impact, Orsini retuned to Paris and contacted his co-conspirators. On the evening of 14 January 1858, as the emperor and empress were on their way to the opera, Orsini and his accomplices threw three bombs at the imperial carriage. The first bomb landed among the horsemen in front of the carriage; the second bomb wounded the animals and smashed the carriage glass; the third bomb landed under the carriage and seriously wounded a policeman hurrying to protect the occupants. In all, 8 people were killed and 142 wounded, but the emperor and empress were unhurt. Orsini himself was wounded on the right temple and stunned. He tended his wounds and returned to his lodgings w police found him the next day. The attempted assassination actually increased Napoleon III's popularity. Because the bombs had been made and tested in England, it briefly caused anti-British feeling in France. The emperor refused to escalate the situation and it eventually defused. On 11 February Orsini wrote his famous letter to Napoleon, exhorting him to take up the cause of Italian independence, a cause the emperor had already supported in his youth. He addressed another letter to the youth of Italy, in which he condemned political assassination. He was sentenced to death and went calmly to the guillotine on 13 March 1858. The photographer of this carte-de-visite portrait of Orsini is unidentified. The print is slightly limited in tonal range but is otherwise in excellent condition, as is the mount. A pencilled inscription verso in a period hand identifies the sitter. Be sure to check out all my other auctions on eBay this week! Terms and conditions: I will send you an eBay invoice shortly after the end of the auction. Please make arrangements for payment to reach me within 7 days of receipt of invoice. Preferred method of Only cheques drawn on UK banks are accepted. All goods are sent at your own risk unless you choose to have the item sent to you via regist... read more

Items in the Price Guide are obtained exclusively from licensors and partners solely for our members’ research needs.

Flag item for content or copyright

If this item contains incorrect or inappropriate information please contact us here to flag it for review.

If you are the originator/copyright holder of this photo/item and would prefer it be excluded from our community, contact us here for removal.