Portrait of Princess Charlotte of Belgium (1840-1927), c.1845-46 (cat no 311b) @ Sotheby’s New York [Part 1]

Portrait of Princess Charlotte of Belgium (1840-1927), c.1845-46 (cat no 311b) @ Sotheby’s New York [Part 1]

Sotheby’s New York feature in their forthcoming The Courts of Europe auction on 30 January 2014 Portrait of Princess Charlotte of Belgium by Franz Xaver Winterhalter and Studio (lot 143, c. 1845-1846, oil on canvas, 93.0 x 64.0 cm; unsigned; stencilled in black with the names of the artist and the sitter on reverse; stencilled in red with the royal cipher LP and inventory number 6219 on reverse).

The present portrait is a three-quarter length version of Winterhalter’s original portrait of Princess Charlotte, painted in Paris in 1844 (oil on canvas, 140 x 98 cm, see cat. no. 258), presently in the collection of HM Philippe I, King of the Belgians. It was commissioned by Louis-Philippe, King of the French, for the Château d’Eu, the King’s sea-side residence on the coast of Normandy (AMN, P6, 26 April 1845). The artist was paid 1,200 FF for the commission from the King’s Civil List.

In the original portrait, the princess appears at full-length, standing in front of a column, with a billowing red curtain on the right, and a bush with giant white roses with a view to a distant park beyond on the left. The present portrait preserves the original pose of the princess and shows her wearing the distinctive Brabant cape, which also appears in the 1844 composition. However, the landscape and architectural elements are cropped out; and the sand-stone column is replaced by a neutral, sand-coloured background.

The sliding scale of the prices of the royal commissions and the examination of the portrait confirm the workshop participation. It is my opinion that within this particular portrait, the background, the curtains, and garments are by the studio of the artist, while Winterhalter’s hand is unmistakeable in the execution of face, hair, and hands, as well as the highlights and bold contrasts on the garments of the sitter.

The portrait remained by descent in the Orléans family, and thence passed, either by gift or acquisition, to the Hohenzollern(-Sigmaringen) family: the obvious connection between the two dynasties is the sitter’s niece, Princess Josephine of Belgium (1872-1958), who married in 1894 Karl Anton Prinz von Hohenzollern (1868-1919). The portrait remained by descent in the family at Burg Namedy.

The portrait is estimated at US$60,000-$80,000. For further information see http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2014/the-courts-of-europe-n09107/lot.143.html.

I would like to thank Ms Andrea Kust, of Sotheby’s New York, for bringing this portrait to my attention, and Sotheby’s New York for acknowledging my research assistance in their catalogue entry.

To be continued…

© Eugene Barilo von Reisberg, 2014