Franz Winterhalter: Court Painter to Napoleon III 1 30 2026

"Emperor Napoleon III"
by Franz Xaver Winterhalter

"It may seem strange that the court painter of an overturned dynasty should be employed by the dynasty succeeding it, but the connection between art and politics is rarely straight-forward. Napoleon III set out to mobilize the best artistic talents of the time in the service of the state irrespective of past loyalties.

Artists were regularly invited to the famous series of week-long parties given four or five times a year at Compiègne, when the Emperor and Empress entertained a gathering of distinguished guests from all walks of life. Winterhalter was invited to Compiègne in 1853, before the séries élégantes had begun, the first artist to be so honoured. The invitation was no doubt a result of the commission he had received to paint the state portraits of the Imperial couple. These were finished in December 1853 at a cost of 24,000 francs.

So huge was the reproduction business that special request forms were printed to cope with the  demand. The portraits were engraved, transferred to Sèvres porcelain, woven into tapestry, made into miniatures, interpreted in sculpture, to become universal talismans of the Second Empire. It was as a painter extraordinary to the Empress that Winterhalter left his mark on the Second Empire. With unerring judgement she had selected him as the artist best able to do justice to herself and the ladies of the court, and she treated him generously. She gave orders for a studio to be constructed in the attics of the Tuileries: 'she decorated this with rich stuffs and objects of art. Here artists showed her their works and here Royalty sat for them.

In 1855, Winterhalter painted his masterpiece, 'The Empress Eugénie Surrounded by her Ladies-in-Waiting.' When the picture was finished, it was unveiled before the Emperor and Empress at the Tuileries. 'It enchangted their Majesties. The likeness and admirable conception were appreciated by all. The picture was subsequently exhibited at the Exposition Universelle in 1855 to a mixed critical reception where it was awarded a first-class medal."

To be continued

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