Portrait of Bella Potocka

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French school (?): "Bella Potocka", pastel , formerly Berlin .
Reproduction of the portrait in an illustrated magazine of Russian Poland , 1868.

The portrait Bella Potocka , a portrait in pastel , which was copied over and over again until the 20th century, ranked Zofia Potocka (1760-1822) in the canon of both beautiful and interessantesten women of the 18th and 19th century. The work, once owned by the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin, received a lot of attention: The Berlin and Berlin Travel Guide of 1905 mentions all the sights of Berlin, including the most important ones, but only briefly with very few details, but the pastel portrait of Zofia Potocka exhibited in the Neues Museum is explicitly mentioned.

Like many public figures, Zofia Potocka has been portrayed several times. Johann Baptist Lampi the Elder created two of these traditional portraits . Mythologically exaggerated, these show Zofia de Witte as “Victorious Venus ” and “ Vestalin ”. Neil Jeffares also documents that copies of a particularly interesting portrait were made years later.

According to tradition, this portrait representing her could also be Apolline-Helene Potocka, geb. Show Massalska, wife of Wincenty Potocki. What is certain, however, is that it is a pastel that was repeated over many decades until well into the 20th century, which probably came from the estate of Prince Heinrich of Prussia to the Berlin Kupferstichkabinett and was exhibited there. In 1940 it was still entitled "Bella Potocka" - with the term that has certainly been passed on. The often found attribution of this work to Salvatore Tonci (1756–1844) cannot be verified conclusively, rather the fact that Tonci has hardly any works for comparison and biographical data speak against his authorship.

The fascinating beauty reflected in this portrait, which is unusual in composition and iconography because it is so simple, is reflected in the frequent and recurring mention of the sitter with reference to their beauty. Not infrequently the reference to this Berlin portrait plays a role, until well into the 20th century this was mentioned when female beauty was to be the subject of discussion. The attraction went so far that in the course of the second half of the 19th century countless replicas , mostly as miniature portraits on ivory , were made for the European market. But there were also numerous copies made in various artistic techniques, often before the original, which can still be found on the art market around the world. This portrait of a female beauty type in a timeless beauty canon shares this portrait with Joseph Karl Stieler's gallery of beauties , which he created for Ludwig II of Bavaria until 1850. These portraits, too, were copied using the technique of miniature painting and marketed on a broad front in the most varied of quality levels for many years.

Since the original portrait in pastel was recorded as a war loss after the Second World War , the artistic quality and authorship cannot be conclusively clarified. Neil Jeffares, one of the experts in portrait painting in the pastel technique of the 18th century, considers Alexander Kucharski to be one of the more likely creators of this work. The composition and the renouncement of any decorative decoration in this late Baroque portrait indicates that it was already a very avant-garde testimony to a new understanding of art and beauty at the time of its creation. Stylistically, according to Jeffares, it is quite possible that Alexander Kucharski can be assigned the authorship, but the artistic technique cannot be used for further verification, as the loss of the original makes this impossible.

The simplicity of the composition and iconography suggests that a woman was actually being portrayed here who did not come from a large family - the necessary decent decoration in the depiction was completely absent. There are also no narrative moments that would allow this pastel to be interpreted as an allegory or a simple representation of events. This is evidenced by an almost simultaneous late Baroque pastel by Adélaïde Labille-Guiard , L'heureuse surprise from 1779, which, in contrast to this, makes use of a narrative element. The Jeffares “French style” of the pastel points to an emergence in the French culture, and since both Zofia Potocka and Apolline-Hélène Massalska, later also a Potocka, stayed in Paris between 1780 and 1785 and also later had the same title "Comtessa" and also had surnames, because of the apparent physical similarity, according to the current state of research, there is probably no reliable decision to be made as to whom the pastel thematized here represents: The portrait of Apolline-Hélène Potocka Princess Massalska by Adélaïde Labille-Guiard is very similar on.

literature

  • Neil Jaffares: Dictionary of pastellists before 1800. London 2006. online (reference literature for 18th century portrait painting in pastel)
  • v. Holzhausen: A famous beauty . In: The Gazebo . Volume 41, 1867, pp. 655 ( full text [ Wikisource ]).
  • Un ritrattista nell 'Europa delle Corti: Giovanni Battista Lampi, 1751 - 1830. Ed. F. Mazzocca. Trento 2001.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Berlin and the Berliners. Karlsruhe 1905, p. 197.
  2. ↑ Un ritrattista nell 'Europa delle Corti: Giovanni Battista Lampi, 1751-1830. Ed. F. Mazzocca, Trento 2001, for the "Vestalin" catalog no. 30 page 230 ff., For the “Victorious Venus” catalog no. 50, p. 252 ff.
  3. ↑ Both paintings are signed, the “Vestalin” is in the art gallery of the Castello del Buonconsiglio in Trento (inventoried under the number MPA 2303, exhibited several times, published as a work by Johann Baptist Lampi), a copy is in the Regional Museum in Vinnytsia (Ukraine ) - No reliable attribution is known about the authorship of this copy. The discussed attribution to Louis Eugene Bertier (1809–?) Is improbable for biographical and stylistic reasons.
  4. ↑ Neil Jeffares: Dictionary of pastel ists before 1800. London 2006
  5. ↑ Jeffares addresses the possibility that the sitter is not Zofia Potocka, but possibly Apolline-Helene Potocka, nee. Massalska, wife of Wincenty Potocki pastellists.com (PDF)
  6. ^ Th. Schrader: Countess Sofia Potocka. In: Communications from the Association for Hamburg History. Volume 33.1913, p. 426.
  7. ↑ v. Holzhausen: A famous beauty . In: The Gazebo . Volume 41, 1867, pp. 655 ( full text [ Wikisource ]).
  8. ↑ The black and white photo of the original pastel from the Kupferstichkabinett Berlin from 1940 available at bildindex.de under the search term "Potocka"
  9. ↑ Quotation from pastellists.com (PDF) After serving in the army in Naples, Salvatore Tonci moved in 1797 to St Petersburg and thence to Moscow, where he lived for many years under the name Nikolay Ivanovich. His varied talents in literature and music ensured success in society, and the portraitist married Princess NI Gagarina. He was taught drawing in the Moscow school of architecture. No pastel is securely attributed, and the suggestion that he may be the author of the celebrated Belle Potocka… does not seem probable on biographical grounds.
  10. ↑ Triumphs of Beauty (with ill.). In: Scherl's Magazin , 5.1929, issue 6, p. 606 ff.
  11. ↑ The example of this article is the miniature on ivory in a typical frame made of gold-plated cast metal.
  12. ↑ v. Holzhausen: A famous beauty . In: The Gazebo . Volume 41, 1867, pp. 655 ( full text [ Wikisource ]). writes the author of the numerous copyists who come to the Neues Museum in front of the original; Jeffares shows numerous pastel copies of this portrait at pastellists.com (PDF).
  13. ↑ see example under the keyword "La comtesse Potocka" at pastellists.com (PDF)
  14. ↑ Neil Jeffares: Dictionary of pastel ists before 1800. London 2006. This reference literature online, this in a constantly revised version under pastellists.com
  15. ↑ Jeffares mentions Alexandre Kucharski, Salvatore Tonci (1756–1844), Anton Graff, Angelika Kaufmann and the “French School” as possible creators mentioned over the years at pastellists.com .
  16. ↑ The portrait of Apolline-Hélène Potocka Princess Massalska by Peter Adolf Hall, also shown here in a conventional manner, clearly shows the difference.
  17. ↑ Neil Jeffares: Leading the Revolution. In: Apollo. 172, No. 582, December 2010, p. 90.
  18. ↑ see under the heading "La comtesse Potocka" at pastellists.com (PDF)