Portrait found of Sion’s first president

Emmanuelle de Kalbermatten, Philippe Varone, president of Sion, and Coline Remy, head of the municipal archives (left to right) with the much sought-after portrait. Ville de Sion sda-ats

The original portrait of François de Kalbermatten (1790-1873), the first president of Sion, has been found. The Swiss city had launched a public appeal at the beginning of the summer in an attempt to unearth the painting.

The search has borne fruit: the owner of the painting, Emmanuelle de Kalbermatten, has contacted the authorities, according to a press release on Thursday.

“I had seen the appeal, but I thought it was a much larger painting. So I didn’t make the connection with the small painting hanging in my corridor,” she said, adding that it was her son who suggested that it might be the one the city was looking for.

“I checked, and that was indeed the case. I’m so disappointed that I didn’t notice it sooner,” says Emmanuelle de Kalbermatten. She was unable to reconstruct the exact history of the painting, which belonged to a branch of the family that soon died out.

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“The canvas was painted in 1835 by Laurent Ritz, a great portrait painter of the time and father of the famous painter Raphaël Ritz,” Coline Remy, head of the municipal archives, told the Swiss News Agency Keystone-SDA. The current owner also owns a portrait of the wife of the first president of Sion, Catherine de Kalbermatten, née de Torrenté.

A long quest

To find the untraceable original of François de Kalbermatten, president from 1848 to 1850, the city council began searching the collections of all the cantonal institutions, without success. The municipal archives had a photo of the painting, without any reference, unearthed in a 1966 publication listing all the presidents of the city up to that date.

The authorities then launched an appeal to the public, hoping to find the portrait with a private individual, possibly a descendant of François de Kalbermatten, whose family has many connections. The appeal was launched to mark the 175th anniversary of the Federal Constitution on August 26. To mark the occasion, the town hall presented an exhibition retracing the 175 years of its municipal council.

François de Kalbermatten held several political offices in the course of his life. Among other things, he was a city councillor, deputy mayor before the foundation of the municipality in 1848, and a state councillor. When the municipal administration was founded, he took over the leadership of the new institution that was being established.

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