The King-Emperor

After many days of hard work, at last I finished this portrait, which makes a trio with two other works of mine (#2: [link] ; #3: [link] ), yesterday (Jenuary 2010) during Chistmas Holidays; I made it by request of a friend of mine who's very interested in History. It's based on a picture I found on the Net.

H.M. Victor Emmanuel III was King of Italy from 1900 to 1946, Emperor of Ethiopia from 1936 to 1943 and King of Albany from 1939 to 1943.
During his long reign he saw the rise of Italy as a colonial power, the dark times of Fascist dictatorship and both the World Wars. For his actions during WWI he was nicknamed "Il Re Vittorioso" ("The Victorious King") and "Il Re soldato" ("The soldier King"). In 1936 Parliament gave him the title of "King-Emperor", as he was sovereign both of a kingdom and of an empire. After WWII he abdicated in favour of his son Humbert II and died in Alexandria of Egypt in 1947.
Today King Victor Emmanuel III is still a controversial character for Italian historians.

I hope you like it ^^