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

Queen Victoria & Prince Albert as painted by Winterhalter

Franz Xavier Winterhalter (1805-1873)

was a German artist who first visited Britain in 1842 and became one of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's favourite painters, creating about 120 works for them. Although he never received high praise for his work in his native Germany, the royal families of England, France, and Belgium all commissioned him to paint portraits. Winterhalter's portraits were prized for their subtle intimacy, but his popularity among patrons came from his ability to create the image his sitters wished or needed to project to their subjects. He was able to capture the moral and political climate of each court, adapting his style to each client until it seemed as if his paintings acted as press releases, issued by a master of public relations. [Getty]

The following excerpt taken from Queen Victoria by Helen Rappoport

Winterhalter had already painted Victoria twice before - in 1833 and again on her coronation in 1837 - when he finally gained the seal of approval of the royal family in Britain. His paintings of Victoria, Albert, and their rapidly growing brood of children would bring him back for two or three months almost every subsequent year between 1843 and 1850. On this and subsequent visits, he remained within the close enclave at court; no doubt here he felt at ease with so many German speakers around him (the queen and Prince Albert included), aware of the general antipathy to Germans among the public at large...Victoria found him odd, although after his death she remarked that "with all his peculiarities I liked him so much". [Richard Ormond]

Once she discovered Winterhalter, Victoria rapidly abandoned all other older-established court painters. That is with the exception of her adored Edwin Landseer, whose animal paintings, she greatly admired. He romanticized the young and handsome Prince Albert on canvas in a way that delighted the queen, and she applauded what she perceived as the honesty of his likenesses of herself. In 1843, Victoria allowed Winterhalter to paint a surprise present for Albert's 25th birthday. It is probably the only, and famously, seductive image of her.

In a letter to her daughter Vicky, she agonized over whether to commission "three half-lengths of Bertie, Alix and the baby or two full-lengths of Bertie and Alix" since she could not afford both. (Elizabeth Longford)

I've always been fascinated by Queen Victoria and her family so I was delighted to find these portraits done by one of the royal family's favoured painters. I especially enjoyed seeing the portraits of her children in their youth and imagining what life must have been like for Victoria as a young wife and mother.

Prince Albert -1842

Victoria 1843

Victoria with her cousin Victoire, Duchess of Nemours - 1852


Victoria 1842


Queen Victoria - 1847


Prince Albert - 1870


~ Victoria and Albert had 9 children ~

1840 - Victoria Adelaide Mary (Princess Royal)
1841 - Albert Edward (future King Edward VII)
1843- Alice Maud Mary
1844- Alfred Ernest Albert
1846 - Helena Augusta Victoria
1848 - Louise Caroline Alberta
1850 - Arthur William Patrick
1853 - Leopold George Duncan
1857 - Beatrice Mary Victoria

[Years listed immediately above refer to year of birth of children
Year listed under each painting refer to date artwork was done]



Victoria, Princess Royal - 1842


Albert Edward, Prince of Wales 1843



Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
with the Family of King Louis Philippe at the Chateau D'Eu - 1845


Princess Alice 1845


The Royal Family - 1846
(Children L-R: Alfred, Albert Edward, Alice, Baby Helena, Victoria)
I find it odd how boys were dressed like girls back then...


Queen Victoria with Edward, Prince of Wales - 1846


Prince Albert Edward , Prince of Wales -1846


Prince Alfred - 1846


The four eldest princesses
Victoria, Princess Royal, Alice, Helena, and Louise 1849


Princess Helena and Prince Alfred


Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, with Prince Alfred 1849


Queen Victoria with Prince Arthur - 1850
(Arthur would become Governor General of Canada in 1911)


The First of May 1851
The Duke of Wellington Presenting a Casket on Prince Arthur's Birthday.
The Duke was the godfather to Arthur and they shared the same birthday of May 1st.
Read more about this painting...

His Royal Highness Prince Albert
with the Princess Royal and Eos the dog - 1843


Prince Arthur - 1852


Prince Leopold - 1855


Princess Louise with Prince Arthur and Prince Leopold - 1856


Princess Beatrice 1859


Princess Helena - 1865


Princess Helena - 1861


Princess Alice - 1861
(mother of Princess Alix (Alexandra) who married Tsar Nicholas II of Russia)


Princess Alice - 1859


Victoria, Princess Royal - 1857


Emperor Frederick III of Germany, King of Prussia with his wife, Empress Victoria,
and their children, Prince William und Princess Charlotte - 1862


Victoria, Princess Royal - 1867
(year my country was born!)


Prince Alfred - 1865


Alexandra of Denmark, Princess of Wales, later Queen of England
(She would marry Edward in 1863)


Victoria, Duchess of Kent - 1861
(mother of Queen Victoria)


I always wondered why the royals were so unoriginal in naming their children. I imagine that they wanted to preserve tradition by naming their offspring after their ancestors but I think it makes for much confusion! Just take the name Victoria as an example... It is the name of Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, the mother of Queen Victoria, and it was one of the names of three of the queen's five daughters. and was also the name of Victoria's granddaughter, (King Edward's daughter). Queen Victoria is also painted with her cousin Victoire from France. More Victoria's found here...


If someone knows the reason why kings and queens insisted on using the same names,
please enlighten me!


See more period paintings at Gallery of Selective Artwork