Lot 1189 Dα

This large-format portrait is thought to show Princess Anna Maria Maximiliane Stephania Karoline Johanna Luisa Xaveria Nepomucena Aloysia Benedicta of Saxony, daughter of the Saxon King Johann I (1801-1873) and his wife Princess Amalie Auguste of Bavaria (1801-1877). Vogel von Vogelstein portrays the young princess with her two dolls in front of an open door, which provides a panoramic view of the Elb river landscape. Her hand lightly caresses the delicate lace-trimmed fabric of one doll's opulent dress, whilst she gazes out pensively in the direction of the portraitist.

Born in 1788 in Wildenfels in the Erz Mountains, Carl Christian Vogel attended the Academy in Dresden in 1806 and two years later accompanied the Livonian Baron von Löwenstern to St. Petersburg. Here he remained for four years, mainly employed as a portrait painter. At the same time he laid the foundations for his more than 700-page collection of portraits of famous contemporaries (including the 75-year-old Goethe). In 1812, Vogel returned to Dresden before travelling to Rome in 1813, where he worked as a painter for seven years. After his return in 1820 he was appointed professor at the Dresden Art Academy, court painter in 1824, and in 1831 he was ennobled with the title "von Vogelstein". Our painting was made 18 years later, yet the artist still signed it with his non-aristocratic name.