A Slight Case of Bartering

A Slight Case of Bartering

Wilhelm von Bode’s memoirs offer another proof to the existence of the portraits of Barthold Suermondt and Nancy Haniel Suermondt (as mentioned in the previous post). Von Bode mentions that instead of receiving a full payment for their portraits, Winterhalter agreed to accept “zwei treffliche Frauenbildnisse von Rubens und Bordone” instead [Bode 1997, 305-6].

This off-the-cuff remark reveals that Winterhalter was not averse to bartering for his services, and also demonstrates how highly Winterhalter’s portraits were valued at the time, as the swap for two Old Master paintings by Sir Peter Paul Rubens and Paris Bordone seemed like a fair deal to such a seasoned art collector as Barthold Suermondt.

Von Bode goes on to say that Friedrich, Crown Prince of Prussia, saw the two Old Master portraits in Winterhalter’s studio in Baden (presumably in Karlsruhe), and immediately decided that these should be added to the collection of artworks he was gathering for his museum in Berlin (today the Bode Museum). This may have taken place around 1867 when the Crown Prince and his wife, Crown Princess Victoria, commissioned a pair of portraits from Winterhalter and presumably visited his studio in the process.

The artist promised that the Crown Prince could have the two Old Master portraits after his death. However, when Winterhalter died in 1873, it was discovered that the two paintings were bequeathed to his brother, Hermann Winterhalter. They were still in Hermann’s collection at the time of his death in 1891.

Under the terms of Franz Xaver and Hermann Winterhalter’s will, the Rubens and Bordone paintings were offered to Victoria, Dowager Empress of Germany, at 50.000 marks. To the best of my knowledge, the Rubens portrait is today in the collection of the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin; while the Bordone portrait remained by descent in the Empress’s family, and is today at the Schloß Fasanerie, Fulda.

© Eugene Barilo von Reisberg 2014

New Entries – Portraits of the Suermondt Family

New Entries – Portraits of the Suermondt Family

Wilhelm von Bode (1845-1929), German art historian and curator, founder and inaugural director of the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, which now bears his name, mentions in his memoirs, Mein Leben (Berlin: Nicolai 1997) that Franz Xaver Winterhalter painted portraits of Barthold Suermondt and his wife [306].

The sitter is undoubtedly Barthold Suermondt (1818-87), a German entrepreneur, banker, philanthropist, and art collector. Franz Wild does not include his portrait on his posthumous list of Winterhalter’s work; but a portrait described as ‘La petite fille de Mr Suermondt’ is mentioned among the works painted in 1866 (Cat No 820; Wild 1894, 45; Winterhalter 1987/88, 235, no 353). It would be fair to assume that Suermondt’s portrait might also date from the same period, that is from the middle of the 1860s.

Suermondt’s first wife, Amalie Elisabeth Cockerill (1815-1859), died in 1859; and in 1861 he married secondly Nancy Friedricke Haniel (1843-1896). Therefore, if the portraits were indeed painted in the mid-1860s, the pendant portrait would certainly depict Suermondt’s second wife.

The present location of these portraits is unknown. Until further information comes forth to either confirm or refute their existence, they are entered into the Catalogue Raisonné respectively under nos 820a and 820b among other portraits painted around the year 1866.

© Eugene Barilo von Reisberg 2014