Friedrich von Amerling
(1803 - Vienna -1887)
Kaiser Franz I of Austria.
Study for the Official Portrait, executed during his Majesty's Luncheon, March 27th 1832, Vienna, 1832
Oil on canvas
29.9 x 21.8 cm
Provenance:
Private collection, Germany
Literature: a selection of works on Friedrich von Amerling
Ludwig August Frankl, Friedrich von Amerling. Ein Lebensbild, Vienna, Pest and Leipzig 1889
Günther Probszt, Friedrich von Amerling. Der Altmeister der Wiener Porträtmalerei, Zurich, Leipzig and Vienna 1927
Günther Probszt, ‘Friedrich von Amerlings Tagebuch und Briefe', in Mitteilungen des Vereines für Geschichte der Stadt Wien, VIII, Vienna 1928, pp.74-103
Sabine Grabner (ed.), Friedrich von Amerling. 1803-1887, exhib. cat., Vienna, Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Leipzig 2003
We are grateful to Dr. Sabine Grabner, Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna, for her research, summarized here.
Friedrich Amerling (1803-Vienna-1887) - he was elevated to Friedrich von Amerling in 1879 - records in his diary that he was called upon by the Imperial Court to paint a portrait of Kaiser Franz I of Austria [1]. The official commission reached him as he was visiting Rome. He interrupted his stay on 11 February 1832 and immediately returned to Vienna.
The Kaiser's interest in the talented young painter had been aroused by a portrait Amerling had painted of Erzherzog Rudolf, his brother [2]. When Amerling received the commission for Rudolf's portrait he had only recently returned from an extended visit to London. This visit (in 1827-8) was to be of key importance for his artistic development. He met the painter Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830), whose work greatly impressed him. Lawrence, who had succeeded Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-92) as official court painter to George III, enjoyed a Europe-wide reputation as the outstanding English portrait painter of the age. Amerling benefited technically both from his study of Lawrence's work and from his study of the work of Reynolds. In addition, both artists strongly influenced Amerling's handling of compositional structure and design. He did not however opt for conscious imitation of their styles but exploited them to develop a style of portraiture remarkably his own.
In no time Amerling advanced to become the leading portraitist in Vienna and the imperial capital's ‘most fashionable' painter [3]. Members of the Kaiser's family, the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie beat a path to his studio. Many artists, both of his own age and younger, anxious to achieve popular success, set out to imitate his style.
Amerling's contemporaries lauded his ability to capture all the characteristics of the human physiognomy and achieve a fine balance between precision of touch and rapid, cursory brushwork. His work stands out on several counts - for its remarkable sensitivity in the handling of the sitter's personality, for its successful melding of personality and all the sitter's distinctive physical characteristics; and for astonishingly delicate characterization that is never over-revealing or damaging to the self-perception of the sitter.
Amerling's diary records the first encounter with the Kaiser: On 27 [March 1832] had first ‘sitting' with His Majesty at luncheon [4]. Amerling had been called to the Hofburg, was allowed to sit in a far corner of the dining hall and from there observe the Kaiser and his family at table and capture the monarch's features in a study. It is very probable that the present small-format study - a close-up of the Kaiser's features filling the whole of the picture format - is the painting he produced at this sitting. One reason for this supposition relates to the primary support - a fine, thinly primed canvas which had probably been pinned to a firm, flat surface. At some stage this was transferred to a thicker sheet of canvas and mounted on a stretcher. Further reasons are the freshness and spontaneity of the brushwork. Dr. Grabner has examined the portrait and sees it as an important example of Amerling's mastery in the characterization of the subject. It also testifies to his remarkable sensitivity in the style of the brushwork, and his ability to convey with great psychological insight and immediacy the earnest expression of an overburdened and troubled ruler [5]. At the same time Amerling delicately juxtaposes touches of impasto with areas of transparent colour. Light falling from the left enhances the right side of the Kaiser's face and forehead, softening skin surfaces and smoothing out volumes. The right eye conveys a mild, almost melancholy expression, while the left eye is observant and watchful, staring straight ahead. The left cheek is sharply defined and deeply furrowed, the skin crimped and lined. The sitter's distinctive features are his high forehead, creased eyebrows and somewhat morose mouth with its protruding lower lip. Virtuoso, delicately placed highlights on the sitter's eyes, nose and forehead add lively finishing touches to the portrait. The silky, greying hair is depicted in rapid, nuanced brushstrokes while the red jacket and epaulettes are cursorily sketched.
Amerling was given the commission to paint a full-length, official portrait of his patron in imperial regalia [6] on the basis of the present study. He then used the close-up ‘record' he had made of His Majesty at luncheon [7] as the model for the full-length official portrait. He completed it in November 1832 [8].
There is another small version of the portrait now in the collection of the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere [9]. Its raison d'être has not yet been established. It is dated 1832, and was thus executed in the same year. Until very recently the small Belvedere version - a seemingly spontaneous portrait depicting the Kaiser in bourgeois dress - was believed to have served as the model for all later portraits of the Kaiser. However, direct comparison shows that there is no question that the present study also served as the model for the small Belvedere version. This demonstrates just how skilful Amerling was in feigning spontaneity, given that the apparent immediacy of the Belvedere version was - objectively speaking - deliberately calculated, although at a very high level of artistic prowess. There are grounds for believing that the Belvedere portrait of the Kaiser was painted either for Amerling's own use or for a private buyer. It was not acquired by the Kaiserliche Gemäldegalerie until 1884.
The findings outlined in this paper show that the present small en face oil study of Kaiser Franz I of Austria is the first portrait painted by Amerling of the Kaiser and thus the model for all of the artist's later portraits of the Kaiser.
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[1]Günther Probszt, ‘Friedrich von Amerlings Tagebuch und Briefe', in Mitteilungen des Vereines für Geschichte der Stadt Wien, VIII, Vienna 1928, [pp.74-103], p.80.
[2]Erzherzog Rudolf, Cardinal-Archbishop of Olmütz, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, inv. GG 9426. The painting now hangs in the Lothringersaal at the Franzensburg in Laxenburg.
[3]Amerling is so described in an obituary published in Neuen Wiener Tagblatt, 14, 15 January 1887, p.6.
[4]Am 27. [März] bey dem Mittags-Essen Sr. Majestät erste Sitzung gehabt. Günther Probszt, ‘Friedrich von Amerlings Tagebuch und Briefe', in Mitteilungen des Vereines für Geschichte der Stadt Wien, VIII, Vienna 1928, [pp.74-103], p.80.
[5][...] dieser ernste Gesichtsausdruck einer offensichtlich belasteten und unglücklichen Herrscherfigur. Werner Telesko, ‘Physiognomie im Zwielicht. Friedrich von Amerlings Kaiser Franz I. von Österreich im Österreichischen Kaiserornat', in Sabine Grabner (ed.), Friedrich von Amerling. 1803-1887, exhib. cat., Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna 2003, [pp.41-56], p.50.
[6]Friedrich von Amerling, Kaiser Franz I of Austria in Imperial Regalia, 1832, oil on canvas, 260 x 175 cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, inv. GG 8618.
[7]See note 4.
[8]The present portrait study also served Amerling as a model for the head of the Kaiser in the two life-size portraits executed in 1834. They are titled Kaiser Franz I in the Uniform of a Prussian General and Kaiser Franz I in the Regalia of the Order of the Golden Fleece. Both works are in the collection of the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna.
[9]Friedrich von Amerling, Kaiser Franz I of Austria, 1832, oil on canvas, 49.5 x 41.5 cm, Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna, inv. 2680.