1828
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Dominant colour
Countess Széchenyi is a 1828 unspecified by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, a Biedermeier work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
The painting shows a woman sitting in a chair with mountains in the background. She's dressed in fancy clothes and has a calm expression. The woman in the painting is Crescentia Seilern, a member of the aristocracy, and her portrait tells us about the artist's interest in Austrian culture. The portrait also reveals the artist's attention to detail, like the intricate folds of her dress. The background mountains show the artist's love for nature and his homeland. To learn more about this style, look up the technique of sfumato.
This portrait typifies painting in Vienna between 1815 and 1865, an era known as the Biedermeier period, during which the Habsburg government promoted positive artistic depictions of Viennese life and culture. The mountains in the background express both the artist's romantic fascination with nature and patriotic devotion to his Austrian homeland. The sitter, Crescentia Seilern, was a prestigious member of the aristocracy who married Hungarian reformist patriot István Széchenyi.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller (Austrian German: ; 15 January 1793 – 23 August 1865) was an Austrian painter. Waldmüller was one of the most important Austrian painters of the Biedermeier period.
See the richer artist page
