Ritratto di Giulia Clary e delle figlie Zenaide e Carlotta

Wicar's 1809 portrait of Giulia Clary with her daughters Zénaïde and Charlotte presents the family of Joseph Bonaparte — Giulia Clary was Joseph's wife, and the two girls were daughters of the Neapolitan royal household — at a moment when the Bonaparte family's hold on Naples appeared secure. Giulia had been born in Marseille to a wealthy merchant family; her sister Désirée had famously been engaged to Napoleon before he turned to Joséphine. The portrait of the royal family domestically composed was a key instrument of dynastic representation: it humanized the Bonaparte dynasty's imperial claims while projecting the warmth of family bonds that sentimental culture valued. The Palace of Caserta, one of the grandest royal residences in Europe, holds this work as part of its documentation of the Neapolitan Bonaparte court. Wicar's access to the royal family and his position as the leading French-trained painter in Italy made him the natural candidate for such a commission.

The group portrait of mother and daughters requires Wicar to organize three figures — one adult, two children of different ages — into a coherent composition that reads simultaneously as formal dynastic statement and affectionate domestic group. The children's more informal poses soften the official register of the royal commission, creating the blend of dignity and warmth that the genre required.