Pope Pius IX (Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti) ('Sovereigns No. 6.')

by James Jacques Tissot
chromolithograph, published in Vanity Fair 1 January 1870
14 1/8 in. x 9 1/2 in. (359 mm x 242 mm) paper size
acquired
Reference Collection
NPG D43412

Sitterback to top

Pope Pius IX (Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti) (1792-1878), Pope 1846-78. Sitter in 7 portraits.

Artistback to top

James Jacques Tissot (1836-1902), French painter and printmaker. Artist or producer associated with 68 portraits.

Placesback to top

Place made: United Kingdom: England, London (27 Tavistock Street, London)

Portrait setback to top

Vanity Fair cartoons: chromolithographs by various artists 1869-1914

Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1870back to top

Current affairs

William Edward Forster's Education Act is passed, making provisions for education for all under-13s. It demonstrated the balance in Gladstone's first ministry between progressive reform and conservativism by spreading literacy, whilst maintaining the status of Church schools.
The Married Women's Property Act gives wives rights over their own earnings.

Art and science

The Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's fantasy-overture Romeo and Juliet, based on Shakespeare's play and written with the aid of composer Mily Balakirev, debuts in Moscow, conducted by Nikolai Rubenstein.
W. G. Grace becomes cricket captain of Gloucestershire, marking the start of a successful decade for the club in which they won three 'Champion County' titles.

International

Isaac Butt, an Irish MP at Westminster, forms the Home Rule Association.
The Franco-Prussian war breaks out between France and a coalition of German states led by Prussia. Provoked by the candidacy of German Prince Leopold Hohenzollen-Sigmaringen for the Spanish throne, France declared war in July after Bismark published the deliberately provocative Ems telegraph, in which the French were represented in an offensive light on the issue.

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