March 2012 – The Winterhalter Catalogue

Works by Hermann Winterhalter at the Salon 1838-1869

Works by Hermann Winterhalter at the Salon

While my previous browsing of Salon livrets focused purely on works by and after Franz Xaver Winterhalter, I set aside a bit of time to research the works by (and after) Hermann Winterhalter that were also shown at this premier Parisian exhibition event.

The results were quite surprising, as the first work by Hermann Winterhalter to be shown in Paris appeared at the Salon of 1838. Most Winterhalter scholars hitherto maintained that Hermann Winterhalter joined his brother in Paris in 1840, the event which was allegedly commemorated by a double portrait of the two brothers (1840, oil on canvas, Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlruhe; FXW cat no 166); followed shortly by another joint double portrait in watercolours (1841, watercolour, Private Collection; FXW cat no 186).

The Salon livret on the other hand indicates that Hermann Winterhalter exhibited at the Salon two years prior to what was believed to be the date of his first arrival in Paris. The Salon exhibitions admitted works by foreign artists, and the Salon livret indicated if an artist was domiciled abroad. In the case of Hermann Winterhalter, the catalogues of 1838 and 1839 exhibitions clearly state that he lived in Paris, where his address (or at the very least his studio address) is listed as 34 rue de Lille and 15 rue des Petits-Augustins respectively. Most remarkably, these addresses differ from those given for Franz Xaver Winterhalter: this suggests that Hermann lived (and worked?) separately from his brother (although Franz Xaver occupied 15 rue des Petits-Augustins from 1836 to 1837). Separate addresses for both brothers continue being recorded in the Salon livrets until 1869, the last year of Hermann’s exhibition.

Hermann Winterhalter was represented at the Salon annually by single works from 1838 to 1841. He exhibited another work in 1844, Portraits des enfants de Mme la vicomtesse de B… (1798), for which he received 3^rd Class Medal; and two more paintings were exhibited in 1847. This was the last appearance of his works for twenty two years, after which Hermann exhibited only once more, in 1869, when he showed two portraits (2426 and 2427). Further research is required to ascertain if any of Hermann Winterhalter’s submissions to the Salon were ever rejected by the jury.

Sadly, apart from Femme importunée par une guêpe, shown at the Salon of 1847 (1633), it is difficult to attribute any other of Hermann’s currently known works as his Salon pieces.

Summary of Hermann Winterhalter’s works at the Paris Salon between 1838 and 1869 (with the numbers of corresponding entries on the Hermann Winterhalter Catalogue page given in square brackets) is as follows: Salon 1838: #1800. Tête de Femme; étude [101a]; Salon 1839: #2131. Tête d’étude [101b]; Salon 1840: #1663. Jeune fille avec des fleurs [101c]; Salon 1841: #2019. Une conversation de jeunes femmes [101d]; Salon 1844: #1798. Portraits des enfants de Mme la vicomtesse de B… [108a]; Salon 1847: #1633. Femme importunée par une guêpe [112]; #1634. Tête de femme [112a]; Salon 1869 : #2426. Portrait de femme [131a]; #2427. Portrait d’homme [131b].

During this time, his addresses are given as 34 rue de Lille (1838); 15 rue des Petits-Augustins (1839-41); 5 rue Bergère (1844-47); and 11 Boulevard Clichy (1869). Apart from his own works, a lithograph by Alphonse-Léon Noël after Hermann’s painting known only as Les Deux Soeurs was shown at the Salon of 1842 (2119); and an engraving by Auguste-Adrien Jouannin after Betty was shown at the Salon of 1861 (3770).

Dresden Portrait Re-Identified as a ‘Lost’ portrait of Augusta Großherzogin von Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1822-1916)

Dresden Portrait Re-Identified as Winterhalter’s ‘Lost’ portrait of Augusta Großherzogin von Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1822-1916)

The recent catalogue of Victorian Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has helped me to shed light on the portrait in the collection of Galerie Neue Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, known hitherto only as Damenbildnis [see no 321, Works by Franz Xaver Winterhalter 1846-1850].

The painting can now be fully identified as a portrait of Augusta Großherzogin von Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1822-1916), née Princess of Cambridge, painted at Windsor Castle between 7 and 16 October 1846.

The following research information backs up my suggestion:

A miniature enamel copy of this portrait (5.0 x 4.0 cm) by John Simpson (1811-aft 1871), signed, dated, and identified as a copy after Franz Xaver Winterhalter’s portrait of Princess Augusta of Cambridge, Hereditary Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, of 1846, is in the collection of HM Queen Elizabeth II (RCIN 421918).
A further copy of this portrait by Henry Melville (fl 1846-86) (oil on canvas, 61 x 50.8 cm, oval), is also in the collection of HM Queen Elizabeth II (RCIN 406676).
Both copies were commissioned by Queen Victoria after the original portrait by F.X. Winterhalter, which was given to the sitter’s husband, Friedrich Wilhelm Großherzog von Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1819-1904).

There are numerous references to confirm the dating of the portrait from October 1846:

The portrait was commissioned by Queen Victoria from Franz Xaver Winterhalter, who was in England from September 1846 to February 1847 [Oliver Millar, Victorian Pictures, 1: 284]
One of Queen Victoria’s ladies-in-waiting, Hon. Eleanor Stanley, wrote in a letter from Windsor Castle, dated 7 October 1846: “I was on the whole day with some Royalty or other, as the Grand Duchess [of Mecklenburg] sat for her picture from eleven till two to Winterhalter, and desired [me] to go and sit with her… After lunch she had another sitting, and I attended again till four o’clock, when she went out driving with the Queen…” [Eleanor Stanley, Letters (London: 1916), 136].
The portrait is mentioned in Queen Victoria’s diary in an entry for 16 October 1846, where the portrait is described as ‘quite beautiful & so boldly, as well as finely painted’ [Oliver Millar, Victorian Pictures (London: 1992), 1: 326].
It was given as a joint present from Queen Victoria and the Dowager Queen Adelaide to the sitter’s husband, then the Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, on 17 October 1846 [ibid].
The portrait is mentioned on the list of portraits by F.X. Winterhalter, published posthumously by the artist’s nephew, Franz Wild, in 1894, where it appears among other 1846 portraits by the artist [Franz Wild, Neckrologe…, 38].

Confirmation from the Galerie Neue Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, of this identification is pending further correspondence.

Sitters Identified: The Coulson Family

Sitters Identified: The Coulson Family

The following entry in Franz Wild’s list of Hermann Winterhalter’s sitters reads: Revd J.E.Coulson, sa femme et son enfant [see no 51, the Hermann Winterhalter Catalogue page].

Recent research has uncovered that the entry refers to Rev John Edward Coulson (1825-1915), and his wife, née Rhoda May Baird (1834-1913), whom he married at Clevedon, Somerset, 7 April 1858 (or 1857). The identity of their child is presently unknown.

Rhoda May Baird was a daughter of Rhoda Susan Willis (Atherfield, IoW, 16.05.1809-Staunton House, Bournemouth, Christchurch 1.11.1873), by her first husband Captain James Charles Baird, 15^th King’s Hussars. Widowed, she married secondly 1.06.1841 Sir Arthur Hallam Elton, 7^th Bt, MP (19.04.1818-14.10.1883). Portraits of Rhoda May Coulson née Baird as a young woman by William Gush (fl. 1833-74), and by an unknown British watercolourist are by descent at Clevedon Court, North Somerset.

Wild’s entry could refer either to a group family portrait, or to three separate portraits. Size and present location of the Coulson portrait(s) by Hermann Winterhalter is presently unknown.

Winterhalter Exhibition at Galeries Jacques Selgmann, Paris, 1928

Saturday, 17 March 2012

Winterhalter Exhibition at Galeries Jacques Selgmann, Paris, 1928

I recently came across a facsimile copy of a very rare and valuable exhibition catalogue of Winterhalter’s works, which took place at Galeries Jacques Selgimann et Fils in Paris in 1928. The exhibition was ostensibly inspired by the recent sale of Empress Eugénie’s estate in London, which included a number of important portraits by Franz Xaver Winterhalter. The exhibition was organised by the Parisian art dealer Jacques Seligmann, who purchased Winterhalter’s portrait of the Empress in the 18^th-Century dress from the above-mentioned sale, with the curatorial assistance from Armand Dayot, a French art critic and historian, who also contributed an important introductory essay to the catalogue.

The examination of the catalogue resulted in the following catalogue updates:

– Armand Dayot mentions a portrait of a Countess von Grafenstein as an outstanding example of Winterhalter’s early paintings of the Munich period. Further information on this portrait is unknown; neither is the exact identity of the sitter, as there were several women of that title during the late 1820s / early 1830s. It is provisionally placed in the catalogue raisonné under cat no 39b.

– A brief note to the portrait of Mlle Paule Heine-Furtado (see cat no 809a) states that the portrait shows the sitter at the age of 16. This places the portrait around c.1863-64. Nevertheless, purely on stylistic grounds, I believe this to be a later painting, dating from c. 1866-67, which also coincides with Mlle Heine-Furtado’s first marriage to the Duc d’Elchingen, Prince de La Moskowa (see illustration left).

1846 Pourtales Winterhalter

– The sitter’s name in the cat no 313 has been altered to that of Mlle Marguerite Renouard de Buissière, Comtesse Auguste de Pourtalès (1840-1926) rather than that of her cousin, Mlle Mélanie de Bussière, Comtesse Edmond de Pourtalès (1838-1919), as was stated in Winterhalter 1987/88 (see illustration right).

– The exhibition included a portrait of Anna Thillon, a famous opera singer (see cat no 891). This is the only item in the exhibition catalogue with a note regarding its provenance. According to the catalogue note, it was commissioned by composer Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (1782-1871); bequeathed by him to composer and theatre director Camille du Locle (1832-1903); and bequeathed by the latter to Opéra Comique, Paris, c. 1871, where it was badly damaged by fire in 1887: “Fort heureusement le visage d’une beauté si tendrement rayonnante, a été miraculeusement épargné ainsi que le frais décolleté où fleurit un petit bouquet délicieusement peint.” It is perhaps a later restoration of the portrait that impedes its full authentication as a Winterhalter original.

Among the most felicitous discoveries was that Hermann Winterhalter was not overlooked! Dayot dedicates at least a full page to Hermann in his introductory essay, and states: “Sa clientèle de modèles n’atteignit pas à la hauteur hiérarchique de celle de son frère, mais il trouva parfois cependant de flatteuses occasions d’exercer avec succès son réel talent de peintre de la figure, comme dans l’exécution des beaux portraits d’Amaury Duval et de Mme Furtado, pour ne citer que deux de ses meilleures peintures.”

Neither further details nor present location of these two portraits by Hermann Winterhalter (i.e. those of Eugène Amaury Pineux Duval, dit Amaury Duval (1808-1885) and Mme Cécile Furtado-Heine (1821-1896), née Furtado) are presently known; and only the portrait of Mme Furtado-Heine was shown at the exhibition (no 10). The latter was also included in Franz Wild’s posthumous list of Hermann Winterhalter’s works.

Both works have been entered in my preliminary catalogue of Hermann Winterhalter’s works as nos 139 and 16 respectively.

Saturday, 03 March 2012

Franz Xaver Winterhalter – Catalogue Updates – Portrait of Duchesse de Morny

I am pleased to add a new image to my website – a portrait of Duchesse Sophie de Morny (1838-96). The image appeared in a blog entry at http://oliaklodvenitiens.wordpress.com; and I was alerted to its existence by a colleague and fellow Winterhalter enthusiast, Emmanuel Burlion (thank you!).

Unfortunately, no further information about the date, size, provenance, history, or current location of this portrait is available at the moment.

However, it is most likely to be a portrait referred to in the posthumous list of works compiled by Franz Xaver Winterhalter’s nephew, Franz Wild, as La Duchesse de Morny, velour bleu, 1868 (cf. Wild 1894, 45; Winterhalter 1987/88, 235 (no 371); Barilo von Reisberg 2007, no 846).

The research indicates that Winterhalter painted the Russian-born Duchesse de Morny on at least five separate occasions (see catalogue entries nos 725, 752, 781, 804, 846). Of these, only one portrait was previously identified with any certainty: no 752 (1863, oil on canvas, 94 x 73 cm, Musée National du Château de Compiègne). Another portrait, no 804 (c. 1865, oil on canvas) appeared in an 1866 watercolour by Jean Sorieul (1824-71) of the bedroom study of the Duc de Morny at the Hôtel de Lassay (collection Pierre Fabius, Paris, 1978) and was later reproduced in a c. 1920s Spanish publication on 19^th-Century painting as being in a Private Collection. Its present location and further information remain unknown.

It is therefore a thrill to add such a rare find as another image by Franz Xaver Winterhalter to my repository of knowledge on the artist. It is now placed on the https://franzxaverwinterhalter.wordpress.com/franz-xaver-winterhalter-works-1866-1873/ page of the catalogue under no 846.