The mystery of the famous "Chocolate Girl" Lyotard: the story of Cinderella or the predatory hunter for the princely title?

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

Swiss artist Jean-Etienne Lyotard is considered one of the most mysterious painters of the 18th century. Legends about his travels and adventures have survived to this day no less than exciting stories about his paintings. Lyotard's most famous work is undoubtedly "Shokoladnitsa" … An interesting legend is associated with this picture: according to the testimony of the artist's contemporaries, here he portrayed a waitress who married a prince, whom she once served in a cafe with chocolate. But very contradictory evidence has been preserved about the character and moral qualities of this person …

In Lyotard's painting "The Chocolate Girl," we see a modest girl who humbly lowered her gaze, probably in front of a coffee shop visitor, to whom she is in a hurry to serve hot chocolate. According to one version, which was generally accepted for a long time, the artist depicted Anna Baltauf, a well-bred representative of an impoverished noble family, in this picture. Once in 1745, Prince Dietrichstein, an Austrian aristocrat, a descendant of the richest ancient family, went to a Viennese coffee house to taste a newfangled chocolate drink. He was so subdued by the modest charm of a sweet girl that he decided to marry her, despite the protests of his family.

Wanting to present his bride with an unusual gift, the prince allegedly ordered her portrait to the artist Lyotard. However, it was an unusual portrait - the prince asked to portray the girl in the image in which he met her and fell in love at first sight. According to another version, the artist depicted in the picture the maid of the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa, who amazed him with her beauty.

Skeptics argue that in fact, everything was much less romantic than in a beautiful legend. And even Anna was not Anna, but a simpleton Nandl Baltauf, who did not come from a noble family, but from an ordinary family - all her ancestors were servants, and women achieved the benefits of life by often providing special services in the master's beds. It was for such a fate that the girl and her mother were preparing, insisting that the daughter could not achieve either money or happiness in another way.

According to this version, the prince first saw the girl not in a cafe, but serving in the house of one of his acquaintances. Nandl tried to catch his eye more often and in every possible way tried to attract attention to herself. The plan succeeded, and the clever maid soon became the aristocrat's mistress. However, she was not satisfied with the role of "one of", and she achieved that the prince began to introduce her to his guests and stopped meeting with other mistresses.

And soon the world was shocked by the news: Prince Dietrichstein is marrying a servant! He really ordered a portrait of the bride for Lyotard, and when he told him about his chosen one, the artist said: “Such women always achieve what they want. And when she succeeds, you will have nowhere to run. " The prince was surprised and asked what Lyotard meant, and he replied: “Everything has its time. The moment will come when you yourself will understand this. I am afraid, however, that it will be too late. " But, apparently, the prince did not understand anything: until the end of his days he lived with his chosen one and died, bequeathing to her all his fortune. No woman could approach him again. And my wife in her declining years managed to achieve honor and recognition in the world.

Since 1765, the "Chocolate Girl" was in the Dresden Gallery, and during the Second World War the Nazis took this painting along with other exhibits of the gallery to the Konigstein Castle above the Elbe, where the collection was later discovered by Soviet troops. What a miracle the precious collection was preserved there, in spite of the cold and dampness of the cellars - art critics are still amazed.

The personality of the model in the portrait has not yet been precisely identified, but Lyotard's "Chocolate Girl" seems to fascinate everyone who comes to the Dresden Gallery, and is considered one of her best masterpieces. It is noteworthy that Shokoladnitsa became one of the first trade marks in the history of marketing. It is still used as a logo by a chain of coffee houses.

Lyotard painted portraits of prominent people of his time - for example, the Empress Maria Theresa, who staged a fierce struggle with the representatives of the oldest profession in the 18th century.