Franz Xaver Winterhalter 弗朗茲·克薩韋爾·溫特 (1805-1873) Neoclassicism Romanticism German

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Franz Xaver Winterhalter, (born April 20, 1805, Menzenschwand, Germany—died July 8, 1873, Frankfurt am Main), German painter and lithographer, known for his portraits of royalty.
Trained in Freiburg im Breisgau and Munich, Germany, Winterhalter entered court circles when in 1828 he became drawing master to Sophie, later grand duchess of Baden, at Karlsruhe. After 1834 he went to Paris and quickly became fashionable, at first under the protection of King Louis-Philippe and later at the court of Napoleon III. He was first summoned to the English court by Queen Victoria in 1841. During his career he painted most of Europe’s royalty and leading aristocracy. His style was somewhat conservative at first, producing a smooth, enamel-like surface; he later developed a freedom of brushwork that engendered the Romantic charm (well exemplified in the celebrated portrait of the empress Elizabeth of Austria) that accounts for his popularity. In later works he often painted directly on the canvas, without making preliminary studies. Winterhalter’s works, which became widely known through copies and reproductions, are now mainly valued for the picture they give of aristocratic Europe in the 19th century.
Franz Xaver Winterhalter born in a small village in Germany's Black Forest, Franz Xaver Winterhalter left his home to study painting at the academy in Munich. Before becoming court painter to Louis-Philippe, the king of France, he joined a circle of French artists in Rome. In 1835, after he painted the German Grand Duke and Duchess of Baden, Winterhalter's international career as a court portrait painter was launched. Although he never received high praise for his work in his native Germany, the royal families of England, France, and Belgium all commissioned him to paint portraits. His monumental canvases established a substantial popular reputation, and lithographic copies of the portraits helped to spread his fame.
Winterhalter's portraits were prized for their subtle intimacy, but his popularity among patrons came from his ability to create the image his sitters wished or needed to project to their subjects. He was able to capture the moral and political climate of each court, adapting his style to each client until it seemed as if his paintings acted as press releases, issued by a master of public relations.