Franz Xaver Winterhalter: Court Painter

"Victoria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha"
by Franz Xaver Winterhalter

"A rare glimpse of the artist at work is provided by Jules Janin in an account published in 1844. Franz Xaver Winterhalter and the medallist, Jean Auguste Barré, were invited to Neuilly to portray the beautiful young Duchess de Nemours. While the medallist slowly traced her profile in wax, the painter 'throws upon the canvas the charming head; he proceeds like a man who improvises with wonderful readiness . . . 'Madam' said he, 'Your Royal Highness is released from me; I have finished.' 'But it is impossible' cried Barré. 'Look then' replied Winterhalter. And in fact there was the faithful likeness of the Duchesse de Nemours . . . 'That I may not trouble Your Royal Highness,' said Winterhalter, 'I will take away the portrait, I will paint the dress at home.'

Royal patronage established Winterhalter's reputation, but cut him off from his artistic roots. The critics, who had loudly hailed the appearance of 'Il Dolce Farniente' and 'The Decameron,' condemned the artist two years later as a Royal 'toady.' He had abandoned his passport as a painter and could no longer be taken seriously. The attitude was to persist throughout the artist's career, condemning his work to a category of its own in the hierarchy of painting.* Arthur Stevens reviewed Winterhalter at the Salon of 1863:

'Everything has been said about this artist's talent. His colleagues lost interest in him long ago. For them, he no longer exists but he has retained his noble clientele. He specialises in painting the queens and princesses of the whole world; every august head appears to require consecration by Winterhalter's brush.' 

From 1839 onwards, Winterhalter painted an average of three to four formal portraits each year for Louis-Philippe. They included not only the King's children, but his grandchildren as well."

*The hierarchy of painting: 

• History painting, including historically important, religious, mythological, or allegorical subjects
• Portrait painting
• Genre painting or scenes of everyday life
• Landscape and cityscape art (landscapists were called "common footmen in the Army of Art"
• Animal painting
• Still life 

To be continued

(Excerpts from the introduction by Richard Ormund, to "Franz Xaver Winterhalter and the Courts of Europe 1830-70.")