Why ladies lined up to see the most popular portrait painter of the 19th century: Franz the Magnificent

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Franz the Magnificent, as the high society ladies of the German portraitist were called Franz Xaver Winterhalter and lined up for him to immortalize them in picturesque portraits. And it should be noted that these works of art were truly magnificent and inimitable, as you can see for yourself by looking at the gallery of immortal images.

The painter skillfully knew how to emphasize the merits of the models and smooth out the flaws, while maintaining the portrait likeness of the heroines and immersing them in luxury and secular splendor. This skill brought François Winterhalter resounding fame in the high society of European states.

All ladies dream of having a portrait painted by Winterhalter in their boudoir."

Unfortunately, the German painter in Russia is known to a very small circle of viewers, despite the fact that quite a few of his works are kept in the halls of Western European art in the Hermitage. And yet Winterhalter was one of the leading 19th century portrait painters in Europe. As a court painter of King Louis-Philippe, Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie, the painter also painted portraits of monarchs and their families in Austria, Belgium and England.

Among his many admirers was also Victoria (1819-1901) - Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Having once visited her palace in England, Franz returned there several more times to capture Victoria and her large family. The master painted more than 120 portraits from the royal persons of Great Britain alone.

Over time, Franz Xaver, having honed his skills as a portrait painter, to accelerate the pace of work on portraits no longer made preliminary sketches and sketches. Instead of academic methods and scrupulousness, a free brushstroke in the manner of romanticism comes, which in no way affected the uniqueness and artistic value of his works.

The artist painted excellently and children - little angels, heirs and heirs of the ruling houses.

Portraits of Russian aristocrats

The Russian aristocracy who visited Paris also liked to order their portraits from this inimitable artist. He painted a whole gallery of female images that are now kept in the Hermitage and in other famous museums in Russia.

The portrait of Varvara Dmitrievna Rimskaya-Korsakova is the most famous portrait of the Russian beauty by Franz Xaver, now kept in Paris, in the Orsay Museum. It was in the capital of France that Varvara Dmitrievna spent most of her life, shining and shocking the aristocratic society of Paris with her outrageousness.

Several pages from the artist's biography

Franz Xaver Winterhalter 1805-1873 is a German painter, one of the most sought-after portrait painters of the mid-19th century. His secular portraiture is a one-of-a-kind gallery of princesses and aristocrats from almost all countries of Europe and Russia, including.

Franz was born in 1805 in the small village of Mentzenschwand (now part of the city of St. Blasin, Germany). Franz is the sixth baby born in the family of Fidel Winterhalter, a farmer and resin producer, and his wife Eva Meyer, who came from an old family.

He studied basic literacy in a monastery, and at the age of 13 he went to Freiburg, where he studied the basics of drawing and lithography in the studio of Karl Ludwig Schuler. At the age of 18 he entered the Munich Academy of Arts and took a course in the workshop of Peter Cornelius. Later he moved to Paris.

The talented master began his career from subject paintings, which were highly valued at the exhibitions of the Paris Salon. The fame of his incredible talent quickly spread throughout France, and soon the young artist became the court painter of King Louis-Philippe, King of France, who entrusted him with creating individual portraits of his large family. Franz Xavier quickly earned a reputation not only as a fashionable artist, but also as a connoisseur of dynastic and aristocratic portraiture. Since he masterfully learned to combine portrait resemblance with subtle flattery, as well as to recreate the regal pomp in a lively modern manner. The loud fame of the magnificent master of the portrait was not long in coming. There was no end to the rich and influential customers.

However, despite his demand and popularity at the royal courts and in the aristocratic environment, Franz Xavier rarely received high praise for his work from serious European critics. Critics, who once praised the debut of the young German painter at the exhibition at the Salon of 1836, dissociated themselves from him as an artist. This circumstance depressed the master, but he could not do anything about it. Once becoming a hostage to his fame, he never managed to break out of the cycle into which his skill as a portrait painter was drawn. Franz himself, fulfilling orders to please the monarchs, for some time believed that he would still be able to return to plot painting and regain the authority of the artist. But alas …

On the other hand, the artist reached unprecedented heights in the field of portrait painting, became rich, received international fame and the patronage of the reigning persons. Not everyone was given this.

Due to illness in the last two years of his life, the German painter wrote very little. And during another trip to Frankfurt am Main to the customer, he contracted typhus and died suddenly at the age of 68.

Among the artists who were openly disliked by critics and idolized by the public include the Polish-Russian painter Henryk Siemiradzki. Read about this in the review: Why did Tretyakov not buy paintings by the "thistle" artist Semiradsky for his gallery?