Portrait painting of Wilhelmine Enke from 1776

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The portrait of the 23-year-old Wilhelmine Enke
Portrait painting of Wilhelmine Enke
Anna Dorothea Therbusch , 1776
Oil on canvas
142 × 103 cm
Marble Palace , Potsdam

Established in 1776 by Anna Dorothea Therbusch designed Portrait of Wilhelmine Enke shows the mistress of the later Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm II. The 142 cm x 103 cm measured painting was created in the wake of controversy over the recognition of the lover of the heir by King Friedrich II. Of Prussia. In keeping with the occasion, the oil painting was intended to portray Wilhelmine as the rightful mistress of the heir to the throne. The depiction of a young woman as a huntress in an erotic pose is in the iconographic tradition of the French royal court and was for the Rococo period nothing unusual.

Historical context

The commissioner of the painting, Wilhelmine Enke, had a difficult position as mistress at the Prussian court of Frederick II in the 1870s . Frederick II saw the influence of his self-image as "roi philosophe" (philosopher king) or as an enlightened monarch from mistresses at the royal courts of Europe as the moral corruption of French absolutism. He even wrote a satirical play on Madame de Pompadour , the late mistress of Louis XV. Due to the relationship of his nephew and heir to the throne, the later Friedrich Wilhelm II. , with the disproportionate Wilhelmine Enke, the daughter of a Dessau court musician, feared that Prussian politics would be influenced by a “regulation of petticoats.” In 1773, Friedrich's attempt to break the influence of his successor's lover reached a climax when he expelled Wilhelmine from Prussia Wilhelmine stayed in Ham for several months castle on. Only then did she secretly travel back to Berlin. Without the royal recognition as Friedrich Wilhelm's legitimate mistress, however, her financial security remained very uncertain. She commissioned the painting in 1776, probably to persuade Frederick II's court circle to recognize her role. It was designed by the king's portrait painter, Anna Dorothea Therbusch . Wilhelmine had conversations with her, as indicated by a letter from Friedrich Wilhelm, in which she decided on the design of the painting. A year later, in 1777, King Friedrich II actually recognized Wilhelmine as the official mistress of the heir to the throne and provided funds for the purchase of a country house in Charlottenburg .

description

Against a wooded background, the painting shows 23-year-old Wilhelmine Enke leaning back slightly. She rests by a spring and wears a salmon-colored robe . Her head with the ostrich feather hat is slightly bent so that she looks out of the painting without looking at the viewer. The white breast cloth has slipped and leaves the right breast uncovered. The color of the nipple hardly stands out from the button placket of the low-cut bodice . On the far side, a hunting dog supports itself with its forelegs on her upper arm and looks Wilhelmine in the face. To the left of Wilhelmine's head, above the rock where the water from the spring falls, two turtling pigeons are depicted. In the left foreground is a rifle. At Wilhelmine's feet lie a couple of killed partridges .

interpretation

The hunt was during the period of absolutism a privilege which only the European nobility was allowed to pursue. As the civil daughter of a court musician, Wilhelmine was not actually entitled to any hunting attributes in the estates of the Holy Roman Empire . Nevertheless, typical hunting motifs such as a dog, hunted partridges and a rifle can be seen in the painting. Thus the client was stylized as Friedrich Wilhelm's befitting lover. She thereby claimed to be part of the Prussian court. In addition to the motif of the hunt, the painting especially emphasizes the freedom of love , symbolized by turtling pigeons. In connection with the love allegory of the pair of doves, Wilhelmine rests at the "source of love". The chase and love motif elevates the hunt for love to the central theme of the portrait. The closeness between the hunting dog and the mistress transfer its values ​​such as loyalty, attachment and reliability to Wilhelmine. At the same time, like the dog, she is always only a companion. In this way, the people around King Frederick II should possibly be convinced of their political insignificance. Like King Friedrich II, the later Friedrich Wilhelm II also fundamentally rejected female “interference” in politics, as his letters show. For this reason, the painting does not show Wilhelmine with the partridges that have already been shot and her relaxed, reclined pose as an active hunter. Diana von Poitiers , mistress of the French King Henry II , was painted in a similar way with the hunting motif .

Place of issue

The portrait painting is exhibited today on the east wall of the Green Room in the Marble Palace in Potsdam .

Notes and individual references

  1. ^ A b c Alfred P. Hagemann: Wilhelmine von Lichtenau (1753-1820): from mistress to patroness . S. 17 .
  2. ^ A b c d e Alfred P. Hagemann: Wilhelmine von Lichtenau (1753–1820): from mistress to patroness . Böhlau-Verlag GmbH, 2007, ISBN 978-3-412-24006-6 , p. 18th ff .
  3. ^ Foundation Prussian Palaces and Gardens Berlin-Brandenburg (Ed.): Friedrich Wilhelm II. And the arts: Prussia's path to classicism . 1997, p. 68 .
  4. ^ Foundation Prussian Palaces and Gardens Berlin-Brandenburg (Ed.): The Marble Palace: a refuge on the Holy See . S. 21 .