1062 - Joseph Stieler

Joseph Stieler Princess Hildegard of Bavaria Oil on canvas (relined). 70.5 x 59.5 cm. Certificate Dr. Ulrike von Hase-Schmundt, München, December 2020. Provenance Estate of Adelgunde, Duchess of Modena (1914). – Royal House of Bavaria. – Moved to Nádasdy Castle in Sárvár, Hungary, in 1924. – Restitution to Princes Ludwig and Rasso of Bavaria. – Neumeister, Munich, Special Auction “ART IN EXILE – The Wittelsbachs in Sárvár, the final residence of King Ludwig III”, 15 March 2021, lot 66. Joseph Stieler’s portrait of Princess Hildegard of Bavaria, known as the painting “with curls”, was painted in early 1844, the year of her marriage to Albrecht Friedrich Rudolf, Archduke of Austria (1817–1895). Hildegard Louise Charlotte was the seventh child of King Ludwig I of Bavaria and his wife Therese, née Princess of Saxe-Hildburghausen. Stieler painted Princess Hildegard on several occasions. Portraits from the years 1838 and 1843 are documented in his sales catalogue; the creation of this portrait is also documented there as having taken place in 1844. Two lithographs show the portrait already bearing the title ‘Hildegarde, Archduchess of Austria’. Stieler apparently created the portrait shortly before the wedding. This is also indicated by the ivy, which adorns the embroidery on the dress as a traditional symbol of enduring and happy love. Archduchess Hildegarde died in 1864 at the age of just 39 from complications of pleurisy, which she had contracted whilst travelling to her brother’s deathbed, King Maximilian II of Bavaria. The contemporary press paid tribute to her as a particularly popular figure and, alongside her charitable work, highlighted in particular her virtues as a wife and mother. On 6 April 1864, the "Neue Zeit – Olmüzer Zeitung" described her as one of the ‘finest adornments’ of womankind.