contents - Michael Imhof Verlag

contents
IntroductIon
Bernd Pappe, Juliane schmieglitz-otten and Gerrit Walczak
8
OBJECTS AND AGENCIES
the PortraIt MInIature as an IntIMate oBJect
Marcia Pointon
16
BetWeen rePresentatIon and IntIMacy.
the PortraIt MInIatures of the GeorGIan Queens
Karin schrader
27
IntIMacy and ancestry: a dynastIc souvenIr
for Queen charlotte
friederike drinkuth
38
MInIature PortraIts of the french royal faMIly at the
court of louIs Xv and louIs XvI Based on archIval docuMents
laurent hugues
47
MInIatures of the PrIncesse de laMBalle (1749–1792).
the PortraIts, PatronaGe and PolItIcs of a royal favourIte
sarah Grant
52
love affaIrs WIth the foundInG father.
PortraIt MInIatures of GeorGe WashInGton.
Modes of creatIon and dIsPlay
sigrid ruby
62
EUROPEAN MINIATURE COLLECTIONS
MasterPIeces of MInIature PaIntInG In
french PrIvate collectIons
thierry Jaegy
74
the collectIon of PortraIt MInIatures BelonGInG
to elector PalatIne Johann WIlhelM In the
BayerIsches natIonalMuseuM In MunIch
astrid scherp-langen
83
the MInIature collectIon of eMPress frederIcK
In fasanerIe castle
andreas dobler
92
contents
5
the collectIon of PortraIt MInIatures of the landGraves
and Grand duKes of hesse-darMstadt
Markus Miller
the collectIon of PortraIt MInIatures froM
KarPnIKI-fIschBach castle In loWer sIlesIa.
the PolIsh PersPectIve
Izabella Wiercińska
100
109
the Most valuaBle MInIatures In the collectIon
of the natIonal MuseuM In KraKoW
danuta Godyń and lucyna lencznarowicz
122
the collectIon of MInIatures froM the state herMItaGe,
saInt PetersBurG
elizaveta abramova
134
INDIVIDUAL ARTISTS AND SPECIAL TECHNIQUES
a GrouP of PortraIt MInIatures attrIButed to JacoB van doordt
In the collectIon of the duKe of Buccleuch and QueensBerry
146
stephen lloyd
the PluMBaGo PortraIt In BrItaIn
emma rutherford
157
charles-Paul-JérôMe Bréa (1740–1820), hIs faMIly
and hIs WorK In MInIature
nathalie lemoine-Bouchard
167
sIlhouettes: the fashIonaBle PaPer PortraIt MInIature
around 1800
Julia sedda
179
Jeanne-MathIlde herBelIn. a MInIature PaInter
of the July Monarchy and the second eMPIre
catherine de leusse
186
MInIature PaIntInG In the 20th century
roger and carmela arturi Phillips
194
APPENDIX
lIterature
202
authors
219
6
contents
miniatureS of the princeSSe de
lamballe (1749–1792).
the portraitS, patronaGe and
politicS of a royal favourite
| Sarah Grant
W
hen marie antoinette was removed
to the conciergerie prison in the
weeks preceding her execution in 1793,
several small items were found on her person and confiscated. these included locks
of her children’s hair, a ring, a small mirror and a miniature of the princesse de
lamballe.1 the princess, who had been
killed the previous year by a revolutionary
mob, had, in life, served as the queen’s
closest confidante. nevertheless it is likely
even she would have been surprised by the
continuing power wrought by her image,
deployed here by the queen as a source of
comfort and a window onto another, happier time.
Such was the potent visual force manifested in the miniature – a penetrating
purveyor of messages and ideologies and
above all, a vehicle for emotions. this paper
will explore some of the miniatures of the
52
princesse de lamballe (1749–1792), a
princess at the court of versailles who became marie antoinette’s longest-serving
companion and who patronised many of
the leading miniaturists of her time. the
princess’s association with and evident devotion to the queen was resented at court
and in paris, and the queen’s intermittent
inconstancy towards the princesse de
lamballe made her position a precarious
one. miniatures were by far the most critical visual tools the princess had at her disposal and the fact that a large number of
miniatures were painted of her suggests
she made good use of them.
vestiges of the princesse de lamballe’s
own collection of miniatures are revealed
in a revolutionary inventory compiled on
21 august 1795 of marie antoinette’s and
lamballe’s jewels. among the objects listed are “an oval box with a miniature
miniatures of the princesse de lamballe (1749–1792)
mounted on it” and “a round tortoiseshell
box ornamented with a miniature” valued
at 3,500 assignats (350,000 livres) and
600 assignats (60,000 livres) respectively,
both considerable sums.2
that this was a medium and mode of
portraiture that suited the princess’s agenda and interests is further reinforced by the
suggestion she may have been an accomplished amateur miniature painter herself.
in 1787, while the princess was visiting
england, a london journal reported, “lady
lucan’s fine miniature production, in lord
Spencer’s collection, was particularly noticed by the princess de lamballe, who
herself excels in this delicate species of
painting: nor did that distinguished character omit paying our amiable Queen some
very handsome compliments on her
majesty’s drawings at Kew.”3
the exchange and dissemination of
miniatures was an important activity for
the queen and her circle and the princess
would have had great need of a supply of
miniatures when conducting court affairs.
in addition to the usual diplomatic gifts,
the exchange of miniatures demonstrated
the forging of allegiances as is illustrated
by marie antoinette’s gift of a Sicardi miniature depicting the princesse de lamballe to
another courtier, madame de clermont.4
probably just such a gift was an early
miniature of the princesse de lamballe by
françois dumont (musée du louvre,
paris). a simple view of the head and
shoulders, it is of a fairly standard format
reprised in a number of other miniatures
of the princess, including an example in
the usher collection (fig. 1).5 there is
nothing so very remarkable about these
portraits except, one might argue, their
very banality and conventionality, suggest-
1 | ignace Jean victor campana (attr.), The Princesse
de Lamballe. Watercolour on ivory, 4.6 x 3.8 cm. the
collection (art and archaeology in lincolnshire),
lincoln (© usher Gallery, lincoln)
ing perhaps a desire to conform to prevalent tastes. throughout her life the
princesse de lamballe teetered on the
precipice of one scandal after another and
she had every reason to want to be seen to
assimilate.
the first of these was her marriage. born
maria teresa luisa di Savoia-carignano,
a princess of the house of Savoy, on 8 September 1749, she passed her childhood in
the baroque splendour of the palazzo
carignano in turin. Strategic marriages
were arranged for maria theresa and her
three sisters with other european princes
of good blood. maria theresa’s chosen
match was the prince de lamballe, son of
the duc de penthièvre, himself the illegitimate grandson of louis Xiv and a man of
exceptional wealth. following a proxy cer-
Grant
53
emony in turin the new princesse de lamballe arrived in france in 1767. but her
young husband had not inherited the
renowned piety of his father and he was by
every account a reckless and promiscuous
libertine. contracting syphilis soon after
his new wife’s arrival in france, his death
left lamballe a widow within scarcely a
year of her marriage. it was now in the
princess’s interest to convey an image of
the utmost dignity and propriety and
miniatures of lamballe must have played
a part in this. couched in the most conventional and therefore easily-read terms,
they highlight the stately qualities of the
sitter. that this visual campaign was successful is indicated by lamballe’s proposal
four years later as a suitable consort to
louis Xv, a move for which the king’s own
sisters lobbied. Writing to the earl of
rochford from paris, the earl of harcourt
observed wryly: “besides the reconciliation of the King and d. of orleans which
madame louise has in hand, she has another affair of a more arduous nature, no
less than an attempt to induce the King to
marry the princess of lamballe. in this
bold undertaking, she is assisted by her
Sisters, the chancellor, and some other
persons. the Success of this intrigue is very
doubt-full, as it is opposed by every artifice
that interest or ambition care devise.”6
ultimately these efforts were not to bear
fruit. perhaps a legacy of this ill-fated
episode is a circular lacquer and tortoiseshell box belonging to the princesse de
lamballe, bearing a portrait of one of louis
Xv’s sisters and opening to reveal a circular medallion of louis Xv within.7
another obstacle lamballe may have
sought to overcome with these conventional miniatures was her perception as a
54
foreigner at court. the austrian ambassador and agent to maria theresa, the comte
de mercy-argenteau, frequently made a
point of lamballe’s “otherness” in his correspondence to the empress, citing her
‘piedmontese’ heritage.8 during this time
both the french and austrians harboured
prejudices that the italian character was
inherently secretive and deceitful.9 marie
antoinette’s brother, emperor Joseph ii,
for instance, observed of lamballe’s cousin
once removed, the comtesse de provence,
“[madame] is not a piedmontese for nothing, she is full of intrigues”.10 to counter
such attitudes, marie antoinette wrote to
her mother in august of 1775 assuring her
of her friend’s suitability as a companion:
“i hope that what my dear mama will learn
about mme de lamballe will convince her
that there is no fear to be had of her connection with my sisters-in-law. She has
always had a good reputation and is not at
all italian. She is established here for life,
and so is her brother. i think both realize
that france is now their true country.”11
lamballe was the elder of the two
women by six years but they shared the
same pastimes and in 1774 mercy-argenteau wrote to maria theresa of her daughter, “her majesty often sees in her cabinets
the princesse de lamballe […]; she is sweet,
pleasant, no intriguer, and quite without
drawbacks.”12 as a mark of their friendship
the queen appointed lamballe Superintendent of her household in September
1775, reviving an archaic position that carried financial as well as social rewards, a
display of the most overt favouritism that
engendered the indignant fury of her other
ladies-in-waiting.13 this was a pivotal
event in lamballe’s life and her attachment
to the queen would be visibly reinforced in
miniatures of the princesse de lamballe (1749–1792)
her patronage of the same artists and
miniaturists.
ignace Jean victor campana is known
to have been marie antoinette’s favourite
miniaturist and as both an extremely prolific practitioner of this medium, and as he
hailed from the piedmont region like the
princesse de lamballe, it is not surprising
to find her painted several times by this
artist. an example now in the louvre
shows the princess with a halo of powdered hair and in a garden seat, her arm
resting on the back of the bench (fig. 2).
campana is notorious for his formulaic
approach to arranging a composition and
the pose assumed here by the princess, one
devised to show both the sitter’s neat silhouette and graceful arms and neck to
their best advantage, is a pose the artist
replicates in many of his miniatures.
even so, the composition is particularly
similar to a miniature he executed of
marie antoinette.14 We see the same diaphanous muslin dress, fichu, floral corsage, the same leafy garden setting, and
even the same positioning of three ringlets
of hair. it was in the princess’s interest to
mirror the queen thus. doubtless it was
marie antoinette’s opinion that carried the
most weight for her and while it was natural to follow the queen’s taste, and artistic
choices were often dictated by prevailing
fashions, the queen was arguably her most
salient audience and one she would have
prioritised above all others.
the campana miniatures appear best
to corroborate contemporary accounts of
the princess’s physical appearance, namely
her luxuriant fair hair. the baronesse
d’oberkirch described lamballe as beautiful and charming.15 Élisabeth vigée le
brun, who had painted her portrait, re-
2 | ignace Jean victor campana, The Princesse de
Lamballe. Watercolour on ivory, 7.7 x 7.7 cm. musée
du louvre, paris (© rmn-Grand palais, musée du
louvre)
called in her memoirs a woman in possession of fine features, a fresh complexion
and an abundance of beautiful blonde hair
and noticed that the princess carried herself with great elegance.16 the comtesse de
Genlis meanwhile said she was “extremely
pretty” but that her shape wanted elegance
and she had “terrible” fat hands.17
pierre-adolphe hall, another favourite
artist of marie antoinette, was also patronised by the princesse de lamballe and one
of the miniatures he produced of her was
exhibited at the Salon of 1781. it was listed
in the salon livret and mentioned by the
Mercure de France.18 diderot judged the
group shown by hall that year to be “beautiful” but frustratingly gave no further description.19 as a number of miniatures of
lamballe by hall survive20 it is impossible
to know which it was but it is tempting to
imagine it might have been one of the most
elaborate the artist produced of that sitter,
one of the few three-quarter length minia-
Grant
55
tures executed of the princess (fig. 3). this
was once in the collection of J. p. morgan,
but is currently known to us only through
its illustration in George c. Williamson’s
sumptuous catalogue of the morgan
miniatures, which was published in four
volumes from 1906 to 1908.21 the princess
is shown seated on an ottomane in an alcove, wearing a violet lace-trimmed gown
and pearl earrings and engaged in the activity of threading flowers from a basket
on the table next to her onto a garland. the
hands of the clock behind her indicate the
hour is three o’clock. the artistic precedent
for this setting is likely françois boucher’s
famous portrait of madame de pompadour
painted in 1756 (alte pinakothek, munich)
with its rich iconography intended to evoke
the sitter’s cultural patronage and intel-
3 | Joseph boze, The Princesse de Lamballe.
Watercolour on ivory, 7.1 x 5.9 cm. musée du louvre, paris (© rmn-Grand palais, musée du louvre,
photo: martine beck-coppola)
56
lectual engagement.22 While hall’s composition follows the established convention
of boucher, the princesse de lamballe’s
pursuits are not shown to be intellectual
but rather decorative. the wreath she displays to the viewer is composed of flowers,
an attribute of flora, suggesting similar
garlands arranged by the goddess and the
three Graces, and adopted in representations of vestals. lamballe’s miniature is
clearly intended as an evocation of her natural milieu – of the salons the princess and
her circle gave and attended.
the palette of hall’s miniature and the
princess’s gown are borrowed from
Joseph ducreux’s portrait of the princess,
executed in 1778 (châteaux de versailles
et de trianon, versailles).23 if one considers both compositions from the neck down
it is plain that the composition of the
gown, the lace-trimmed sleeves, the underskirt – are all identical. Where hall departs from the original composition is, significantly, in the formality of its setting.
While ducreux’s portrait is evidently intended as a formal representation of the
princess, hall removes her to the more relaxed setting of a sitting room or boudoir
and thus transforms this portrait from an
image designed to command respect into
a souvenir for an intimate friend.
Such comparisons between full-scale
portraits and miniatures are particularly
instructive, and another useful example is
presented by a Joseph boze miniature (fig.
4) that copies vigée le brun’s 1782 portrait
of the princesse de lamballe (châteaux de
versailles et de trianon, versailles). What
becomes immediately apparent on comparing the two portraits is the slight alterations boze has effected, which result in a
more flattering image. the teeth, slightly
miniatures of the princesse de lamballe (1749–1792)
4 | unknown artist (formerly attributed to pierre-adolphe hall), Alleged Portrait of the Princesse de
Lamballe. Watercolour on ivory, 15.9 x 11.4 cm. victoria & albert museum, london (© victoria and albert
museum, london)
Grant
57
the miniature collection of empreSS
fredericK in faSanerie caStle
| andreas dobler
t
he Kulturstiftung of the house of hesse
owns a collection of portrait miniatures not very well known to the public even
though it is one of the largest and most important collections held by princely houses
in europe. the collection consists of about
800 miniatures and a considerable part of
it – some 380 items – is preserved at the
museum Schloss fasanerie in eichenzell,
close to fulda. due to the renovation of the
showrooms the miniatures unfortunately
will not be on display until approximately
2015. they have been very well restored in
an effort lasting for two years supported by
the hessian museum association, and they
are now still “sleeping in the dark”, to be
presented in a much more advantageous
light as soon as the showrooms are opened
again. having grown for quite a long period, the stock essentially contains portraits
of members of the family and illustrates the
family relationships of the dynasty in the
18th and 19th century.
a respectable number of these portrait
miniatures originally belonged to victoria,
92
2 | Framed Set of 24 Miniatures from the Collection of
Empress Frederick. Kulturstiftung des hauses hessen,
museum Schloss fasanerie,
inv. nos i 115–138
1 | Guglielmo faija, Victoria, Princess Royal, 1855.
Watercolour and gouache on ivory, 6 x 4.8 cm. Kulturstiftung des hauses hessen, museum Schloss
fasanerie, inv. no. i 127
princess royal (1840–1901; fig. 1), the eldest daughter of Queen victoria of england
(fig. 2). in 1858 she married frederick
The miniature collection of empress frederick in fasanerie castle
William, prince of prussia, the future
frederick iii, emperor of Germany (fig. 3).
after his death in 1888 his widow was
called victoria empress frederick. about
70 miniatures of our present collection at
fasanerie castle can be traced back to her
possession. they came to us from her
daughter, princess margaret (fig. 4), the
youngest of her eight children. in 1893 she
married prince frederick charles of hesse
who figures in a miniature by Johannes
Zehngraf from 1892 (inv. no. i 248). She
inherited the entire art collection after her
mother’s death in 1901, just as she inher-
ited friedrichshof castle in Kronberg,
where the collection was displayed until
the early 1950s.1
the family relationships cannot always
be easily recognized, but being small, portrait miniatures can be very helpful in
demonstrating them when placed in family
groups. in this case the museum can display the miniatures as works of art and at
the same time present them for didactic
purposes. most of the portraits in the
miniature collection of victoria empress
frederick – which must have contained
more than 150 pieces – were, as might be
dobler
93
3 | William essex, Victoria, Queen of England,
1844. enamel on gold, 4 x 3.1 cm. Kulturstiftung
des hauses hessen, museum Schloss fasanerie,
inv. no. i 136
4 | unknown artist, Frederick William, Prince of
Prussia, c. 1850–60. Watercolour on paper, 3 x
2.5 cm. Kulturstiftung des hauses hessen, museum
Schloss fasanerie, inv. no. i 135
5 | Johannes Zehngraf, Margaret, Princess of
Prussia, 1892. Watercolour and gouache on ivory,
5.4 x 4.3 cm. Kulturstiftung des hauses hessen,
museum Schloss fasanerie, inv. no. i 245
expected, likenesses of members of her
family, of relatives of her parents and of
her prussian husband. She had placed
them in various rooms of friedrichshof
castle and we can get an impression of the
situation at that time with the help of old
photographs by hermann rückwardt.2
they were arranged in frames and integrated into the rooms.
this manner of presentation was surely
influenced by the way her parents presented the miniatures in their castles in england. from her mother, Queen victoria,
she inherited at least 24 pieces in a frame,
showing portraits of the immediate family
(fig. 5). but she survived her for only seven
months, so she could not enjoy them as we
do today. vanessa remington has published this framed set in her excellent catalogue of the victorian miniatures in the
collection of Queen elizabeth ii.3 among
94
The miniature collection of empress frederick in fasanerie castle
6 | Guglielmo faija (attr. to) after robert thorburn, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, 1853. Watercolour
and gouache on ivory, 6 x 4.8 cm. Kulturstiftung des hauses hessen, museum Schloss fasanerie, inv. nos
i 124, i 126
the portrait miniatures in this frame, last
displayed in the library of friedrichshof
castle, some charming companion pieces
are to be found, like alexandrine of baden
(1820–1904) and ernest ii, duke of Saxecoburg-Gotha (1818–1893), engraved on
the back with 25 January 1858, the date
when the princess royal – the future empress frederick – and prince frederick
were married in the chapel of St. James’s
palace.4 the portraits of the bride’s parents, Queen victoria (fig. 6) and prince albert, with appealing filigree frames, are
probably copies by Guglielmo faija after
robert thorburn. of course, mention
should also be made of the princess royal’s
first two children, William, prince of prussia (1859–1941), the future emperor
William ii, and his sister charlotte (fig. 7),
miniatures on ivory by annie dixon. the
two portraits were painted at osborne in
the summer of 1861. princess alice, victoria’s sister, mentioned them in a letter to
lady caroline barrington: “miss dixon is
coming here today, much to beatrice’s
horror, but she is not going to paint her,
but her niece and nephew.”5 beatrice’s
horror would have been to sit once more
for the painter; obviously it had been a
rather trial for the child.
also of great importance as a work of
reference on the miniature collection of
empress frederick is a catalogue published
by the berlin art historian Wilhelm von
bode and his colleagues.6 the empress was
very interested in seeing her collection
published by this well known specialist,
and she was rather disappointed when
dobler
95
7 | annie dixon, Prince William of Prussia, 1861.
Watercolour and gouache on ivory, 7.4 x 6.6 cm. Kulturstiftung des hauses hessen, museum Schloss
fasanerie, inv. no. i 138
8 | anton friedrich König, Elisabeth Christine,
Queen of Prussia, c. 1775. Watercolour and gouache
on ivory, 4.5 x 3.5 cm. Kulturstiftung des hauses
hessen, museum Schloss fasanerie, inv. no. i 142
9 | emmanuel de la Selle, chevalier de châteaubourg (attr. to), Frederike-Louise, Queen of Prussia,
c. 1795. Watercolour and gouache on ivory, 6.2 x
5 cm. Kulturstiftung des hauses hessen, museum
Schloss fasanerie, inv. no. i 68
bode spent only a single day in friedrichshof castle in 1894. most of the research
was actually done by his young colleagues. the finished work of this team,
including a great number of large-format
photographs, was presented in the winter
of 1895 to 1896. its chapter on the portrait
miniatures, written by richard Stettiner,
might well be read as a history of portrait
miniatures in which the objects of the
collection were primarily used as examples.7 after a discussion of the presentation at friedrichshof castle, Stettiner
somewhat unflatteringly made a point of
being less concerned with questions of
artistic quality.
the portrait of elisabeth christine of
prussia (1715–1797), however, was indeed
acknowledged as an excellent piece of art
(fig. 8). it has been attributed to anton
friedrich König and shows the wife of King
96
The miniature collection of empress frederick in fasanerie castle
10 | heinrich friedrich füger, Karl Heinrich Nikolaus von Nassau-Siegen, c. 1790. Watercolour and gouache
on ivory, 15 x 10.9 cm. Kulturstiftung des hauses hessen, museum Schloss fasanerie, inv. no. i 95
dobler
97