Lot 2094 Dα

This portrait shows the Archbishop and Elector of Cologne, Clemens August von Wittelsbach (1700-1761), in his blue and silver falconry uniform. Only the pectoral cross set with diamonds refers to the sitter's high ecclesiastical dignities. On his gloved left hand he carries a falcon with a feather-crowned cap.
The painting is derived from a full-length portrait by Franz Joseph Winter, which depicts the Counts Preysing and Seinsheim on either side of the Elector (Schloss Moos, then owned by the Preysing family, cf. Martin Miersch: Das Bild des Electeur Soleil. Herrscherikonographie des Rokoko am Beispiel des Kölner Kurfürsten und Deutschordenshochmeisters Clemens August (1700-1761), Marburg 2007, p. 18f, fig. 11). A full-length depiction of the Elector without the two counts, and thus even closer to our - probably cropped - painting, can be found in the audience chamber of the Yellow Apartment in Augustusburg Palace in Brühl (cf. Miersch, p. 19, fig. 8). In addition to the pectoral cross, the elector already wears the cross of the Order of St Michael in this painting.
Franz Joseph Winter later painted several portraits of members of Clemens August's family and court in a slightly varied form, but also in blue and silver falconry uniforms, for the salon on the ground floor of Falkenlust Palace in Brühl.
Franz Joseph Winter was an artist at the Bavarian court and mainly painted portraits, especially of members of the Wittelsbach family. In addition, he also created altarpieces, among others for the monastery churches of Andechs and Ettal.