Franz Xaver Winterhalter was born in Menzenschwand in the Black
Forest as the son of a farmer. He was educated at a Benedictine
monastery in Blasien and learned the profession of graphic artist
in Freiburg (1818-1824). Subsequently he studied painting in
Munich under Peter von Cornelius and Joseph Stieler.
In
1828 he was engaged as drawingmaster by Sophie, margravine of
Baden and he moved to Karlsruhe. Supported by the duke of Baden
he travelled to Italy in 1833-1834. Back in Karlsruhe he became
painter at the grand-ducal court, but he left for France where
he soon established a reputation as a portrait painter after
he portrayed Louise Marie of Orleans, the queen of Belgium.
In
Paris he became court painter to king Louis-Philippe. In 1842
he painted queen Victoria in England, the first of many times.
After the fall of Louis-Philippe and the rise of Napoleon III
his popularity soared. The empress Eugénie sat for him several
times and in 1856 he painted the famous portrait of her and
her ladies in waiting (now at Compiègne).
Winterhalter
also worked at Russian, German, Mexican and Spanish courts.
He lived in France and had a villa in Baden-Baden for his holidays.
For all his success, he remained a man of simple tastes. After
the Franco-Prussian war he retired to Germany. He painted little
during the last years of his life and died of typhus during
a visit to Frankfurt am Main, where he was buried at the Hauptfriedhof.
Related persons
• painted Charlotte, empress of Mexico, princess of Belgium
• was pupil to Cornelius, Peter von
• painted Elisabeth von Bayern, Kaiserin von Österreich
• was a friend of Magnus, Eduard
• painted Maximilian of Austria, emperor of Mexico
• painted Napoleon III Bonaparte, Empereur des Français
• was pupil to Stieler, Joseph
• painted Taglioni, Marie
• painted Wilhelm I, emperor of Germany
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Sources
• Schilderkunst van A tot Z, REBO, Lisse, 1990
• Haslip, Joan, The Lonely empress, A Biography of Elizabeth of Austria, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1965
• Moos, Günter, Wegweiser durch den Frankfurter Hauptfriedhof, 1994
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