“Portrait of Franz I on Horseback” is a painting by Austrian artist Johann Peter Kraft from the Military Gallery of the Winter Palace .
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| Johann Peter Kraft | ||
| Portrait of Franz I on horseback . 1832 year | ||
| Canvas, oil. 361 × 258 cm | ||
| State Hermitage Museum , St. Petersburg | ||
| ( inv. GE-7805 ) | ||
Description of the picture
The painting is an equestrian portrait of the Austrian Emperor Franz I from the Military Gallery of the Winter Palace [1] .
The Austrian emperor Franz I (the last emperor of the Holy Roman Empire under the name Franz II) is depicted in the Austrian field marshal uniform, wearing a field marshal hat, a cloak is thrown over his shoulders, riding a trotter of bay color against the background of Vienna . The retinue accompanying him is visible in the middle plan, in the background on the field in front of the city buildings are troops lined up for the parade. The emperor has on his neck a sign of the Austrian Order of the Golden Fleece , on the chest are the stars of the orders of Maria Theresa , Leopold and the Iron Crown . At the bottom right, the artist’s hard-to-see signature and date: Krafft. 1832 [2] . Signature on the frame: Franz I Emperor of Austria 1792-1835. The works of P. Kraft 1832 [3]
Creation History
The Austrian Emperor Franz I back in the early 1820s, when work on portraits of the Military Gallery was just beginning, promised the Russian Emperor Alexander I to donate his portrait to the gallery.
In the years 1825-1832, Kraft, commissioned by the Austrian emperor, performed for the Hofburg Palace the large painting "The Emperor's Entry June 16, 1814 in Vienna after Returning from Paris"; this picture in a modified form served as a prototype for the Hermitage portrait [4] .
The order was handed over to the artist through the Russian ambassador in Vienna, real secret adviser D.P. Tatishchev in the autumn of 1830. And already on January 10, 1831, Emperor Nicholas I inquired of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Count K.V. Nesselrode "whether the portrait of the Emperor of Austria on horseback promised for the portrait gallery would be ready soon . " Nesselrode, in turn, in April asked the Austrian envoy in St. Petersburg, K. L. Fickelmon, to remind Franz I "about the promise he had made to the late Emperor Alexander Pavlovich to send here his portrait on a horse for the Military Gallery in the Winter Palace" [5] . Having received this reminder, the Austrian emperor took upon himself all the costs of the artist's work in the amount of 200 gold ducats . Work on the portrait, however, began no earlier than September 1831, when Kraft was finally informed of the required dimensions of the painting, the rotation of the figure, and the general characteristics of the desired image [6] . In the literature there is a mention of the existence of a watercolor sketch with the equestrian image of Franz I [7] .
At the beginning of August 1832, the painting was ready and sent via ship to Lubeck to St. Petersburg , at the end of August it already arrived at the place and was immediately installed at the Military Gallery [8] [9] .
Notes
- ↑ State Hermitage Museum. - Kraft, Johann Peter. "Portrait of Franz I".
- ↑ Asvarisch, 1988 , p. 322.
- ↑ Podmazo, 2013 , p. 68.
- ↑ Vancsa E. Zu den “Vaterländischen Historien” Peter Krafft // Wiener Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte. - Wien, Köln, Graz, 1974. - Bd. 27. - Nr. 125.
- ↑ Podmazo, 2013 , p. 69.
- ↑ Asvarisch, 1988 , p. 322-323.
- ↑ Schneemann M. Johann Peter Krafft. 1780-1856. Monographie und Verzeichnis der Gemälde. - Wien, 1984. - Nr. 155, 156.
- ↑ Asvarisch, 1988 , p. 323.
- ↑ Podmazo, 2013 , p. 36.
Literature
- Asvarish B. I. German and Austrian painting of the 19th — 20th centuries. Catalog (State Hermitage Museum. Collection of Western European Painting). - L .: Art, 1988 .-- 370 p.
- Podmazo A. A. Images of the heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812: Military Gallery of the Winter Palace. - M .: Russian Knights, 2013 .-- 864 p. - ISBN 978-5-903389-62-9 .