Art Blogging: Franz Xavier Winterhalter

Franz Xavier Winterhalter (1805-1873) was a German Academic painter who created portraits for most of the European nobility of the mid-19th Century. He was born in Mensenschwad and educated in Monaco before settling in Paris. Winterhalter's ladies were gorgeous and dignified and his gentlemen dashing and refined -- exactly the images that the aristocracy wished to cultivate.

I like Winterhalter for his glossy, dreamy quality reminiscent of Rococo painting, but updated with Neoclassical realism.



Madame Barbe de Rimsky-Korsakov (1864) in the Musee d'Orsay.


















Prince Albert (1842).





















The Empress Eugenie a la Marie-Antoinette (1854). Winterhalter's work was often derided by critics as simplistic, but in this painting, we see the precision of his technical skill. Here, the Empress of France is portrayed as the ill-fated Marie Antionette, dead for 60 years. The background is stylistically Rococo, which was the dominant style of Marie Antionette's age. Winterhalter has used Neoclassical technique to create a Rococo backdrop. Compare with these. Winterhalter had the skills and imagination to give his customers exactly what they wanted.