Portrait of Edmund Emundt
The portrait of Edmund Emundt , created around 1845 by the Aachen society painter Heinrich Franz Carl Billotte , depicts Edmund Emundt's Mayor of Aachen from 1832 to 1848 .
Image data
The picture is an oil painting on canvas in the format H 101.5 × W 83.5 cm. The Biedermeier frame with flat Neo- Rococo decor has heart-shaped decorations in the corners. It is a stretcher frame with crossbar reinforcement. The painting shows visible signs of restoration, various retouchings and a repaired angular cut on the right side at neck level. On the back wall there is a canvas patch at the level of the neck tie. There is severe damage at the level of the spleen. The history of the location is as follows: Historical Museum - Museum - Löwenstein House Meeting Room (press office) - 2010: SLM magazine of the Suermondt Ludwig Museum (NGL 813).
The picture has evidently undergone a rather gentle restoration, so the incarnate no longer corresponds to the color usually chosen by the artist, and no traces of the original incarnate can be seen.
Image description
The half-length portrait shows the Mayor of Aachen Edmund Emundts in a quarter profile . In front of a dark background, he looks at the viewer with distinction. A broad, heavy nose, broad lips, strong eyebrows and sideburns, his left cheek in the shadow, a highly styled hairstyle - these are the striking features of Edmund Emundt, whose weak tone is attested by the sagging eyelid rims. On the contrary, Billotte indicated his strong forehead wrinkle. In contrast to his other portraits, this incarnate is very bright, looks atypical for Billotte and seems to be the result of an improper restoration.
The dark lower part of the face indicates a strong growth of beard. His right hand in the Napoleon gesture typical of Billotte's portraits , he has placed the left on a wooden parapet that protrudes diagonally like a barrier into the lower edge of the picture. Billotte uses this Parapetto not only as an artistic means to create a sense of depth, but also as an attributive reference to Emundt's work in court.
On the left side of the chest, Emundts wears his Order of the Red Eagle III on a short ribbon with stripes on the side . Class . Its hallmark is on the narrow side of the lower cross arm. The paw cross in white enamel is provided with a red eagle in the middle. Each cross arm is heightened in pastose white . Matt diamond buttons set in silver adorn his shirt.
With the tailcoat he wears a vest made of atlas silk to match the necktie. The black narrow chain that runs over his light shirt could belong to a monocle. The tailcoat sleeve extends well over the back of his hand.
Billotte's Napoleongestus resembles that in his self-portrait. This reveals a peculiarity of the artist: a motif that he or the sitter likes, once won, is repeated in his oeuvre. A comparison with the mayor's photograph shows Billotte's idealization here too. Only the nose and hairstyle are painted from nature, while the extremely sunken facial features of the person being portrayed are "lifted" by the artist.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Parapetto
- ^ Herbert Lepper : Forms of urban self-government then and now. A documentation. Self-published by the Aachen City Archives. 1986². Fig. 20.