Artwork
Portrait of Maria Theresia Charlotte of Bourbon
Portrait of Maria Theresia Charlotte of Bourbon is an oil painting by Heinrich Füger. It dates from 1790 and is held in the collection of the Hermitage Museum.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
Heinrich Füger rendered these attributes to emphasize her status within the family and the political continuity of the French monarchy.
The portrait shows Marie Thérèse of France wearing a royal mantle and a cameo, symbols of her Bourbon lineage and dynastic authority. Heinrich Füger rendered these attributes to emphasize her status within the family and the political continuity of the French monarchy.
The composition therefore conveys themes of legitimacy and succession, linking personal identity to broader Bourbon symbolism.
The work is housed in the Hermitage Museum and was created in Germany in 1778.
Technique & Style
The portrait is executed in oil paint on canvas, a standard combination for late eighteenth-century European portraiture. According to the cataloguing data, the work measures 110.5 by 88.5 centimetres, a substantial upright format suited to a formal, full-length depiction. The composition centres on Marie Thérèse of France, shown with attributes of royal status including a royal mantle and a cameo, rendered in the polished, Neoclassical manner associated with Heinrich Füger's practice. The painting is held in the collection of the Hermitage Museum.
The Wikidata entry records two inception dates, 1778 and 1796, suggesting either a revision or a secondary dating associated with the canvas, though the primary creation is attributed to 1778.
History & Provenance
Heinrich Füger executed this oil-on-canvas portrait of Marie Thérèse of France in 1778. The work was created in Germany and depicts the royal subject wearing a mantle and a cameo. While one record suggests a potential inception range extending to 1796, the primary attribution assigns the painting to 1778. The artwork eventually entered the collection of the Hermitage Museum, where it remains housed.
Heinrich Füger's 1778 oil-on-canvas portrait of Maria Theresia Charlotte of Bourbon is held in the collection of the Hermitage Museum. The work is cataloged within the museum's holdings as a portrait depicting the subject in a royal mantle and cameo. While the creation date is recorded as 1778, the inventory entry also associates the work with the year 1796. No specific accession number or exhibition history is provided in the available records.
Context
Heinrich Füger painted Portrait of Maria Theresia Charlotte of Bourbon in 1778, depicting Marie Thérèse of France in a royal mantle as a cameo portrait. The work, executed in oil on canvas, measures 110.5 × 88.5 cm and belongs to the Hermitage Museum's collection in St. Petersburg, where it has been part of the German art holdings since the 18th century. Füger, a German painter active in Vienna and St. Petersburg, exemplifies the late 18th-century court portraiture tradition that blended Enlightenment ideals with aristocratic representation.
His broader output, including works for Catherine the Great's court, reflects the cross-cultural artistic exchanges between German-speaking regions and Imperial Russia, situating this portrait within the neoclassical movement's emphasis on antiquity-inspired formalism and royal symbolism.
Overview
Heinrich Friedrich Füger, a prominent German painter of the classicist movement, completed an oil portrait in 1790 that is now part of the State Hermitage Museum’s collection. The work presents a seated female figure rendered with careful attention to texture and light, set against a subdued backdrop that includes a hint of a red curtain.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Heinrich Friedrich Füger (8 December 1751 – 5 November 1818) was a German portrait and historical painter and one of the most important German representatives of classicism.
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