1270 - Grand Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, née Marie Wilhelmine Friederike, Princess of Hesse-Kassel

Grand Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, née Marie Wilhelmine Friederike, Princess of Hesse-Kassel (1796 Hanau – 1880 Neustrelitz) Portrait of Thomas François de Carignan (1596–1656), Prince of Savoy A large-format, finely painted copy from 1856 based on the well-known painting by Anthonis (Anthony) van Dyck from 1634, which has been in the Berlin Gemäldegalerie since 1836. Grand Duchess Marie was a talented painter who studied under Christian Wilhelm Jacob Unger (1775–1855), who had been court painter in Neustrelitz since 1817 and was appointed professor at the Kassel Academy of Art in 1820. She primarily created copies of famous paintings by Old Masters, several of which have survived. Oil on canvas; signed and dated 1856 on the reverse. On the reverse side of the stretcher, an old provenance note reads: “Property of Her Royal Highness the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, No. 46.” 115 cm x 105 cm. Framed. Provenance: from a princely collection in Germany; earlier provenance: Grand Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1796–1880), who married Grand Duke Georg of Mecklenburg-Strelitz in 1817; Grand Duchess Auguste Caroline of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (HRH Princess Augusta Karoline Charlotte Elizabeth Mary Sophia Louise of Cambridge, 1822 Hanover –1916 Neustrelitz, granddaughter of King George III of Great Britain; Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz herself since 1860 through her marriage to Marie’s son, Frederick William II of Mecklenburg-Strelitz). Oil on canvas. Copy after the well-known painting by Anthony van Dyck in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin. Signed and dated 1856. Old inscription with provenance on the canvas stretcher.