Joseph Stieler
PORTRAIT OF BARONESS GÜLDENSTRÖM
Oil on canvas. 105 x 82 cm.
Signed on the back: Mathilde Freifrau von Güldenström, gemalt von Joseph Stieler 1856.
Joseph Karl Stieler is considered the most important portraitist working in Munich during the first half of the 19th century. After having studied with Christoph Fessel in Würzburg and Heinrich Füger in Vienna, Stieler settled in Paris to complete his training with the classicist, Gérard. In 1812 he was called to Munich by King Maximilian of Bavaria and in 1820 was appointed court painter to Ludwig I, for whom he created not only coronation paintings but also the Gallery of Important Gentlemen and the Gallery of Beauties.
In his handwritten record of sales dated 1857, Joseph Stieler refers to the portrait of Baroness von Güldenström as being his last paid commission: "Baroness Güldenström Portrait 30 Louis d'Or." This painting, as well as four additional portraits accounted for in 1856, of Baron and Baroness Prankh, Baroness Gumppenberg and Countess Almeida, was commissioned by Prince Carl of Bavaria, who is also mentioned in Rudolph Marggraff's memoirs on the artist published in 1858.
Provenance
Private property, West Switzerland. - 341. Auction, Galerie Fischer, Luzern, 18.11.1994, lot 2056 (with opinion of Ulrike von Hase-Schmundt, München). - Private collection, South Germany.
Literature
Rudolph Marggraff: Erinnerungen an Joseph Stieler und seine Zeit. In: Abendblatt der Neuen Münchner Zeitung, 1858, no. 149, p. 594. - Ulrike von Hase: Joseph Stieler 1781-1858. Sein Leben und sein Werk. Kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke, München 1971, p. 28 a. 233.