Leo. Pope. P. XIII

Printed at bottom of card-mount:-
 
 
 

silk:
cm deep by cm wide

by Geoffrey Godden:
Pope Leo XIII was born on 2 March 1810.
He was elected Pope on 20 February 1878.
His jubilee as a priest was in the same year as Queen Victoria's Jubilee, 1887, and greetings and good wishes were exchanged on these occasions.
He was widely liked and became known as 'the working man's Pope'.
Pope Leo XIII died on 20 July 1903, having won great prestige for papacy.

The example shown above is the only one of this silk portrait known to me.
It would appear that this subject was made for the Continental market. The title is included with known Stevens silks in the German printed back-label issued by Franz Drahne of Leipzig.
The added information is given that the portrait depicts the Pope on the day of his fiftieth anniversary as a priest: this would mean on 31 December 1887.

The general style of this silk and its mount, with the narrow window, is similar to the Continental portrait silks shown in the Stevens presentation volume.

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