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king ludwig I of bavaria
Strasbourg, France, 25 August 1786 - Nice, France, 29 February, 1868
royalty
During Ludvig I's reign, Munich developed into a centre of the arts of international repute. The entire appearance of the city was renewed in the classical style: with Leo von Klenze and Friedrich von Gärtner as his most important architects, Ludwig I. was responsible for the planning and layout of the Ludwigstrasse, Feldherrenhalle, Siegestor, Königsplatz and the Alte and Neue Pinakothek.
His assumption of office also breathed new life into Porzellan Manufaktur Nymphenburg. In 1815, while he was still crown prince, he elevated the manufactory to the rank of a State Institution of the Arts with Friedrich von Gärtner significantly shaping its programme as its art director from 1822. Ludwig I. commissioned plates and platters from the manufactory, which were not used as services but which served as documentation of the most important works of art of the time.
His assumption of office also breathed new life into Porzellan Manufaktur Nymphenburg. In 1815, while he was still crown prince, he elevated the manufactory to the rank of a State Institution of the Arts with Friedrich von Gärtner significantly shaping its programme as its art director from 1822. Ludwig I. commissioned plates and platters from the manufactory, which were not used as services but which served as documentation of the most important works of art of the time.
Auguste Strobl
Auguste was the daughter of a royal Bavarian chief accountant. It is unknown
how she came to King Ludwig I's attention, but apparently, he was smitten by her beauty that he wrote poems to her and had her portrait painted. This is Auguste's second portrait by Joseph Stieler - the first portrait overemphasized Auguste's neck that it displeased Ludwig. |
Maximiliane Borzaga
Maximiliane was a Munich beauty of Italian descent. She was the daughter of a salt and pawnshop cashier from Rovereto, Italy who eventually settled in Rochus Lane in Munich. She married a physician, and had a son and a daughter by him.
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Amalie von Lerchenfeld
The illegitimate daughter of Therese, Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
and a German count, Amalie married Baron Alexander von Kruedener. After his death, she married as her second husband Nikolai Adlerberg. Her dazzling beauty earned her many admirers, among them, Fyodor Tyutchev and King Ludwig I. |
Cornelia Vetterlein
She was the daughter of the Bavarian State Councillor, and married
Baron Franz Ludwig von Kunsberg. Most of the paintings in the Gallery of Beauties did not have significant backgrounds, but Cornelia symbolizes constancy and a castle is shown in the background. To match the castle, she is portrayed as the traditional German Lady of the Castle. |
Isabella, Grafin von Trauffkirchen-Engelberg
Isabella was another Munich beauty whose father held a position at the Bavarian
Court as Lieutenant General a la suite. She married a Polish count when she was 22. Her portrait was one of the first ten to be displayed at the Gallery of Beauties. |
Charlotte von Hagn
An actress of the Biedermeimer era, Charlotte was a celebrated talent everywhere
she went. Her beauty, gentle demeanor, wit and charm were her attraction, and she became the mistress of Franz Liszt, who called her "the concubine of two kings". |
Nanette Kaula
Nanette Kaula was the daughter of a Jewish Court Agent Raphael Kaula.
In 1838 she married a Hamburg banker whose firm was granted a real estate license in Munich. She died childless in 1876. Of all the paintings in the gallery, Nanette's is the only one where she is dressed in a simple outfit, as "the beautiful Jewess". She wears a purple and black velvet dress, adorned only with the golden arrow in her hair and brooch. |
Anna Hillmayer
Anna Hillmayer was the daughter of a Munich meat dealer. She died unmarried
on her 35th birthday. She is shown here wearing the traditional Munich headdress with a prayer book in front of the Munich Frauenkirche as a symbol of piety. |
Regina Daxenberger
She was the daughter of a copper-smith. King Ludwig thought her so beautiful that he had her open a royal ball on the arm of Duke Maximilian of Bavaria.
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Lady Jane Elizabeth Digby
Lady Digby was an English aristocrat who led a rather scandalous life. She married four times, and was the mistress of many aristocratic men and several kings, including Ludwig I. Of all the women at the Schönheitengalerie, Lady Digby had been the one who, with the exception of Marianna, Marqueza von Florenzi, had most captivated the King.
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Amalie von Schintling
Amalie was the daughter Major Lorenz von Schintling
and Baroness Theresia von Hacke. Her father allowed her portrait to be painted for the Gallery of Beauties despite her fiance's objections. She and her fiance never got to marry - she died of tuberculosis before the wedding. Amalie was portrayed here wearing an Oriental-style cape. |
Marianna, Marquesa von Florenzi
She was an Italian noblewoman and a well-known translator of philosophical
works. The daughter of the Count of Ravenna, Marianna received a good education, becoming the female ideal of an educated woman at that time. For 40 years, she was the mistress of King Ludwig I, and he greatly valued her advice in government matters. |
Helene Sedelmayer
She was the daughter of a shoemaker from Munich, and became known to King Ludwig when she supplied toys to his children. He had her portrait painted when she was 18. Ludwig is said to have wooed her with the words, “Don’t have such a searching and inquiring glance. You cheeky, loveliest beauty, look at me and trust me.” Helene later married the king's valet, and together they had 10 children.
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Anna Hillmayer
Irene was a Hungarian-born lady-in-waiting in the Bavarian court. She married
Count Alois Nikolaus Arco, the Royal Bavarian Chamberlain, but the marriage was unhappy, and resulted with the couple's separation but not divorce. |
Caroline, Grafin von Holnstein
Caroline was a German noblewoman who at 16 married Carl Theodor, Graf von Holnstein
from Bavaria. The marriage was unhappy, but it gave her ample opportunities to be at court. King Ludwig I saw her for the first time at a court academy, and was dazzled by her beauty. It was said that she was the illegitimate daughter of Prince Karl of Bavaria. |
Lady Theresa Spence
Nothing is known about Therese Renard Spence other than her birthday and that Spence is her married name. She was already married at the time of when this painting was commissioned. Portrayed as Sappho, the Greek lyric poet from the island of Lesbos, she wears the traditional Greek robes and a crown of laurel, and holds a lyre.
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Lady Jane Erskine
Jane was born in London, one of the seven beautiful daughters of David Montagu,
Baron of Erskine and British envoy in Munich. Jane married James Henry Callander, a Scottish politician. |
Mathilde von Jordan
Mathilde was the daughter of Baron Wilhelm von Jordan, Royal Chamberlain and
Lieutenant-General of the Bavarian court, and Violana, Countess von Sandizell. She was also a maid-of-honor at the Bavarian court. She married Baron von Beust, a successful politician and Austrian Court Minister for Saxony. |
Wilhelmine Sulzer
Wilhelmine Sulzer was actually the stage name of Frederica Catharina Sulzer.
An illegitimate child, she was orphaned at the age of 16. She was hired as a student of Heigel at the Royal Court Theater in 1836, where she attracted the attention of King Ludwig, who called her a "decent and virtuous girl". After a year in the theatre, she developed a chronic chest problem and retired from the stage and married the Ministerial Registar Karl Schneider. |
Elise List
Elise was born in Stuttgart, the second daughter of an economist named Friedrich List and his wife Caroline nee Seybold. She married an Austrian factory owner. She was introduced to the king by his half-sister Queen Elisabeth of Prussia, who told Ludwig, "She sang for us with a very beautiful voice but her face pleased me even more than her singing and I think she would be worthy of being included in your collection of beauties".
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Marie, Crown Princess of Bavaria nee Prussia
Marie was Ludwig's daughter-in-law. She was the daughter of Prince William of Prussia and Princess Marie Anna of Hesse. She was a popular figure in Bavaria, and this portrait of her was done shortly after her marriage.
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Caroline, Princess von Oettingen-Wallerstein
Princess Caroline was the daughter of Prince Ludwig von Öttingen-Öttingen and Wallerstein and Princess Creszentia, whose portrait was also in the Gallery of Beauties. She married Count Hugo Philipp von Waldbott-Bassenheim, a Hereditary Chevalier of the Teutonic Knights, before the completion of this painting.
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Friederike, Baroness von Gumppenberg
Friederike was born in Munich, the daughter of former chief mining and salt works council, Baron Franz von Gumppenberg and his wife Therese, née Countess von Tannenberg. Friederike was 17 when she came in the service as court lady of the Crown Princess Marie, who had just then married and moved to Bavaria. Friederike was the Princess's maid-of honor for 15 years. She then married her cousin Baron Ludwig von Gumppenberg. They then gave their service at court. Friederike was awarded the honorary title of Dame of the Royal Order and the Elizabeth Theresa Order.
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Josepha Conti
Born as household servant's daughter, Josepha married, at 15, a 45-year-old painter Anton Conti. They lived on Briennerstrasse in Munich, near the Royal Residenz, thus becoming known to King Ludwig I, who included her in his Gallery of Beauties. After her husband left her, she worked as a maker of canvasses for the royal court. She later married a Court Councillor.
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Princess Alexandra of Bavaria
Princess Alexandra was the youngest daughter of King Ludwig. A precocious child, she was a favorite child of the king, who left her in his will his entire natural history collection as a private possession. She never married, and instead was appointed abbess of the Royal Chapter for Ladies of Saint Anne in Munich, a religious community for noble ladies.
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Princess Auguste Ferdinande of Bavaria
She was King Ludwig's daughter-in-law, having married the King's third son, Luitpold. She had a delicate health and was suffering from tuberculosis even before her marriage, which made the King oppose the match. However, Ludwig eventually accepted her and was soon writing with great enthusiasm about her beautiful profile, and insisted that she be painted for the Gallery of Beauties in profile unlike the rest of the girls in the Gallery of Beauties.
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Lola Montez
Her real name was Maria Dolores Elisa Gilbert, the daughter of an Irish
Lieutenant. She became a professional dancer and actress when she was 21, and later met and became King Ludwig's mistress. She was unpopular among the local population because of her 'bad' influence to the king and her arrogant manners. |
Maria Dietsch
Marie was born in Munich, the daughter of Joseph Dietsch, a tailor from Schwandorf. She worked as a seamstress, and married George Sprecher, the editor of the Augsburg Evening Newspaper.
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Anna von Greiner
Anna was the daughter of a carpenter, Christian Jacob Bartel and
Wilhelmine Herrlich. She was an actress at the National Theatre in Munich, and married an landowner named Emil Greiner. |
Carlotta von Breidbach-Bürresheim
Carlotta was born in Biebrich on the Rhine, the daughter of Jacob Philipp, Freiherr von Breidbach-Bürresheim and his wife Caroline, nee Baroness von Greifenklau. As lady-in-waiting of the Grand Duchess Mathilde of Hesse-Darmstadt, she visited the court of Maximilian II in Munich. On this occasion she met Ludwig I, who so admired Carlotta that he dedicated no less than 250 poems for her. After the death of his wife, Ludwig even proposed to Carlotta, but she refused. She later married Count Philipp von Waldeck, and they lived in Bohemia.
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Caroline Lizius
Almost nothing is known about Caroline Lizius, who was described by Ludwig in 1842 as "the most beautiful woman in Munich" and left her 24000 gulden (over 3 million dollars) in his will if she never married, which was to be used as a dowry if she did marry. This portrait of Caroline was the second of two paintings of her by Joseph Stieler, completed in 1843 at the age of 18. The first was completed in 1841 when Caroline was 16, and Ludwig immediately commissioned a second portrait as Caroline "had become more beautiful".
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Luise von Neubeck
Luise was born in 1816, the daughter of the King's chamberlain, Baron Karl von Neubeck and his wife Leopoldina. After her mother's death, Luise was brought in Rudesheim on the Rhine. She later became the abbess of the Church of the Holy Spirit in Munich, and died there in 1872.
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Rosalie Julie, Baroness von Bonar
She was born in Vienna, the daughter of a Moravian knight and a Polish countess. She
married the British ambassador in Vienna. |
Antonia Wallinger
Antonia was the daughter of Court Theater Manager Anton Josef Wallinger and
his wife Catherine. She was a dancer at the Royal Court Theater, before marrying Frederick Ott, a councilor. She is portrayed here as Hebe, the Goddess of Youth, and was described by King Ludwig I in his sonnet "Ode to the Hebe in My Collection of Beauties" as "a sweet cupbearer at the feast of the gods". |
Princess Sophie of Bavaria
Sophie was the eldest daughter of King Maximilan I of Bavaria and his second
wife, Princess Caroline of Baden. She was thus a half-sister to King Ludwig I. She was also the mother of the future Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria. |
Katharina Botsaris
Katharina was Greek beauty from Janina. Her father was a Greek freedom fighter named
Markos Botzaris. He died in battle against the Ottoman Turks in 1820. Katharina's brother, Demetrius, was educated in Munich, and was an aide and war minister of King Otto I of Greece. Katharina became lady-in-waiting to Queen Amalie of Greece, and married Prince George Karadjas in 1845, a general in the Greek army. In 1841, Amalie, Otto, and their aides visited King Ludwig in Munich. While Amalie was climbing out of her carriage in Munich, Ludwig spotted Katharina assisting her. Both Otto and Amalie suggested Katharina for the Gallery of Beauties, and Ludwig agreed. She was portrayed here wearing the traditional Greek costume. |
