European Royals as painted by Winterhalter

Painting on left:
One of my favourites done by Winterhalter
"Madame Barbe de Rimsky-Korsakov"

Franz Xaver Winterhalter

He entered court circles 1828 when he became drawing master to Sophie Margravine and her husband Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden. He moved to France where he exhibited a portrait of the Prince of Wagram with his young daughter. His career as a portrait painter was soon secured when in the same year he painted Louise Marie of Orleans, Queen of the Belgians, and her son, Duc de Brabant. It was probably through this painting that Winterhalter came to the notice of Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies Queen of the French, mother of the Queen of the Belgians.

In Paris, Winterhalter quickly became fashionable. He was appointed court painter of Louis-Philippe, the king of the French, who commissioned him to paint individual portraits of his large family. He went on to paint extensively for Queen Victoria of England and Empress Eugenie of France. (two other posts featuring his art)

Persistence saw Winterhalter survive from the fall of one dynasty to the rise of another. As the "Painter of Princes", Winterhalter was thereafter in constant demand by the courts of Britain, Spain,Belgium, Russia, Mexico, the German courts, and France. [condensed from Wikipedia]

Sophie Margravine, Grand Duchess of Baden (Sweden)

Carmen Ida del Aguado
Duchess of Montmorency 1860


Prince of Wagram with his young daughter


Leopold I of Belgium, Louise Marie of Orleans, Queen of Belgians
(Leopold n 1840, arranged the marriage of his niece, Queen Victoria, the daughter of his sister, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, to his nephew, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, son of his brother, Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.)

Prince Leopold, Duc de Brabant
[son and heir of Leopold II of Belgium and his wife, Archduchess Marie Henriette of Austria. Leopold was named for grandfather, and for his father's cousins, Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert, the Prince Consort.]

Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies Queen of the French,

mother of the Queen of the Belgians

Princess Maria Carolina of Bourbon - Two Sicilies
(the subject of this painting has also been attributed to be her sister Louise- Marie)

Marie Henriette (Hendrika) Queen of Belgium , 1863
(wife to Leopold II)

Empress Elisabeth of Austria with Diamond Stars on her Hair

Elisabeth of Hungary (Sissi)

Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria 1865
(husband of Elisabeth/Sissi)


Empress Maria Alexandrovna 1857

Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna 1850

Julia Louise Bosville, Lady Middleton

Lidia Alexandrovna Schbelskaya
Baroness Stael-Holstein 1857

Louis Philippe Marie Ferdinand Gaston D'Orleans, Compte D'Eau

Madame Adalina Patti 1868

Maximilian I of Mexico 1864
(husband of Charlotte of Belgium)

Princess Charlotte of Belgium, 1864
(Became Empress Consort of Mexico)

Princess Charlotte of Belgium, 1842

Princess Charlotte of Belgium, circa 1850's

Young Italian at the Well - 1833

Queen Isabella II of Spain with Princess Isabella


Queen Olga of Württemberg 1865

Countess Krasinka and her children 1853

Countess Alexander Nikolaevitch Lamsdorff

Pauline Sandor Princess Metternich 1860

Francois, Princess of Joinville - 1844

Maria Anna von Preussen

Self Portrait of the Artist with his Brother, Hermann


See more period paintings at Gallery of Selective Artwork

GALLERY OF SELECTIVE ARTWORK

Index to Paintings by some of my favourite artists

(click on each artist's name to see more...)

Although this site is called Enchanted Serenity of Period Films, I've recently gathered a few of the paintings that have caught my eye. I've been delighted to find more creations by the same artist when I had previously only known one or two pieces of their artwork. For instance, one of my favourite paintings has been Empress Eugenie Surrounded by Her Ladies in Waiting. Once I discovered the painting's title, I was thrilled to discover the story behind Franz Xavier Winterhalter and many of his other paintings as one of the regal court's favoured artists (including of Queen Victoria). Other artists that impressed me with their style and setting include Edmund Blair Leighton, Sir Frank Dicksee and John William Waterhouse.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and their family as painted by Winterhalter

An example of a court painter with favoured patronage

The Empress Eugenie as painted by Winterhalter

~ see more paintings of the last French Empress

European Royals as painted by Winterhalter

More paintings by the "painter of princes" who was in constant demand
by the courts of Britain, Spain,Belgium, Russia, Mexico, the German courts, and France.

Art of Sir Francis Dicksee

Art of Edmund Blair Leighton

Art of John William Waterhouse


Art of Sophie Anderson


Art of William Adolphe Bouguereau

Art of Annie Leibovitz

Art of Jean Honoré Fragonard


Art of Tim Walker

Imagining what would be beyond the canvas...
If Artists Had More Paint...

The Language of a Parasol
led me to some paintings and photographs

Selected artwork of Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

Modern photos of Alfred Hitchcock classic films

Click on highlighted text to see more paintings by each artist

The Empress Eugenie as painted by Winterhalter

I always admired this painting, not knowing who the subject was [ the last surviving French person to have worn a crown].

After the accession of Napoleon III, Winterhalter's popularity grew and he became the chief portraitist of the imperial family and court of France. The beautiful French Empress Eugénie became a favorite sitter and she treated him generously. In 1855 Winterhalter painted his masterpiece: The Empress Eugénie Surrounded by her Ladies in Waiting. He set the French Empress in a pastoral setting gathering flowers in a harmonious circle with her ladies in waiting. The painting was acclaimed, and exhibited in the universal exposition in 1855. It remains Winterhalter's most famous work.

Eugénie de Montijo

[Empress consort of the French]
(1826 – 1920)

(full name: María Eugenia Ignacia Augustina de Palafox de Guzmán Portocarrero y Kirkpatrick) was the last Empress consort of the French (1853-1871), the wife of Napoleon III, [Napoleon III was the nephew of the famous Napoleon Bonaparte I.] On March 16, 1856, the empress gave birth to an only son, Napoléon Eugène Louis Jean Joseph Bonaparte. [Napoleon IV]

She was known for her style, just like her predecessor Marie Antoinette:
When the empress wore the new cage crinolines in 1855, European fashion followed suit, and when she abandoned vast skirts at the end of the 1860s, at the encouragement of her legendary couturier, Charles Worth, the silhouette of women's dress followed her lead again. Eugénie's aristocratic elegance, splendour of dress and legendary jewels are well documented in innumerable paintings, especially by her favourite portraitist, Winterhalter. Her interest in the life of Marie Antoinette of Austria sparked a fashion for furniture and interior design in the neoclassical style popular during the reign of Louis XVI of France.

After her husband was overthrown in 1870, following the Franco-Prussian War, Napoleon and Eugénie lived in exile in the United Kingdom. She died in 1920.

The Empress Eugenie

Emperor Napoleon III

The Empress Eugenie a la Marie-Antoinette

Empress Eugenie holding Napoleon IV

I can't help but wonder if these royals appreciated photography
and the short time needed to sit still as opposed to posing for a painted portrait.

See more period paintings at Gallery of Selective Artwork

info taken from Wikipedia article
biography - Eugenie, the Empress and her Empire by Desmond Seward