Video: Gallery of beauties of Ludwig I of Bavaria: a hymn to female attractiveness
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
V Munich (Germany) is the Nymphenburg castle. In the 19th century, it served as a summer residence for representatives of the ruling dynasty. One of the attractions of the castle is the Gallery of Beauties. It represents 36 portraits of the most beautiful girls, commissioned by the king Ludwig I of Bavaria … It is worth noting that the canvases depict not only representatives of noble blood, but also ordinary townspeople.
The Bavarian king Ludwig I, who ruled in the first half of the 19th century, tried to turn Munich into a "second Athens". He patronized painters and sculptors, built buildings in the Greek and Roman styles, and considered himself a poet and published four collections of poetry. However, the writers of that time called the work of the king, who was thirsting for fame, paperwork.
Ludwig I of Bavaria loved to surround himself with objects of art: busts of great people, antiques and paintings. Love for the latter resulted in the creation of the Gallery of Beauties (Schönheitengalerie). This is the name of a series of portraits depicting lovely girls.
Commissioned by the king, the German artist Joseph Karl Stieler in the period 1827-1850. painted portraits of 36 girls. The king personally chose each of the models. Ludwig I had his own ideal of beauty, according to which not only the girl's external attractiveness was taken into account, but also her high moral qualities. If the monarch found an appropriate model, then its social status was not at all important to him. That is why, next to the portraits of the princesses, there are images of girls from the lower classes.
Every time Ludwig I ordered another portrait to Joseph Karl Stiler, he claimed that he had found “the one” that was no more beautiful. By the way, the models in the portraits show a certain type that meets the beauty standards of the classicism era. According to the king, each of the girls should not be thin and not thick, with snow-white skin, with a small straight nose, swollen lips, a high forehead and a swan neck. The line of the shoulders can be compared to the outlines of an antique vase.
The most famous in the Gallery of Beauties are the portraits of the shoemaker's daughter Helena Zeldmayr, the Austrian Archduchess Sophia, and Queen Maria von Hohenzollern. The king's mistresses also did not stand aside: Lola Montes and Marianne Florenzi.
By the way, because of the temperamental adventurer Lola Montes, Ludwig I of Bavaria abdicated the throne.
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