Franz Xaver Winterhalter: Revolution 01 29

"Countess Eliza Krasinska, née Branicka"
by Franz Xaver Winterhalter 

"In a letter to a friend in Holland in 1846, Franz Xaver Winterhalter wrote: 'Soon I will have done with the entire royal family [of France], and then should end the period of portrait painting for me, and I shall be able to resume my way in the arts which derive their inspiration from the imagination, a pleasure which one cannot enjoy as a portrait painter.'

Two years later Winterhalter's wish was almost granted, but not in a way he could have foreseen. The Revolution of 1848 swept away the Orléanist monarchy, whose patronage had established him, and with it the world he knew and admired. The Revolution realized all the worst fears of this deeply conservative man, with his reverence for order and authority. The events which he was forced to witness in Paris, as the mob took control of the city, overturned the army and forced the abdication of the King, appalled him. He withdrew to Switzerland. 

The following March Winterhalter crossed to England, which seemed like a welcoming haven after the storms ravaging Europe. He confided his experiences to Queen Victoria, who wrote them in her journal: 

'We talked of France and Germany and the horrors of the past year; and he said that what he saw at Paris had made a terrible impression upon him, and that he had been unfortunate enough to come in for a revolution in almost every place! The fate of the French Royal Family and the behaviour of Germany is what distresses him most.'

Professional pride prevented him from giving up or giving way to despair. He had commitments to fulfill, portraits to paint. He was still in demand. Persistence saw him through from the fall of one dynasty to the rise of another."

To be continued

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