Lot 114 | Anton Graff | Portrait of Agathe Dorothea Elisabeth "Lisette" von Rutenberg (1770-1832)

GRAFF, ANTON
1736 Winterthur - 1813 Dresden

Title: Portrait of Agathe Dorothea Elisabeth "Lisette" von Rutenberg (1770-1832).
Date: Ca. 1790.
Technique: Oil on canvas.
Mounting: Relined.
Measurement: 68,5 x 53,5cm.
Frame: Framed.
Verso: On the relined canvas details of the sitter.

Provenance:
Private ownership, Germany;
Consul Harry Kühne, Hamburg.

Literature:
E. Berckenhagen, Anton Graff. Leben und Werk, Berlin 1967, p. 314, no. 1183.

The young woman casts a fleeting glance at the viewer from large, intelligent eyes. Her reddened cheeks and lips reveal inner emotion, as if she had just entered the intimate space that encloses her. Her dark, wild hair, which she tames with a wide bow, still seems to be in motion. Her clothing underlines this impression: over her chemise, the shirt dress typical of the time with a raised waist, she wears a blue silk jacket lined in turquoise, which appears thoroughly casual and gives the noble lady-in-waiting a perky, exceedingly natural expression. Jewellery in the form of pearls and ornaments is completely absent. Instead, the painter has rendered the ruffles and draperies in an almost old-masterly manner. His focus, however, is on the woman's contemplative, enraptured countenance.

With this painting, Anton Graff did not create a society portrait, but a snapshot of a moment in time. Even his contemporaries judged that Graff was not painting the body but the spirit. He left behind the conventions of the representative rococo portrait and emphasised the individuality and naturalness of the sitter. His art is an important testimony to the Age of Enlightenment, which saw the bourgeoisification of the aristocracy and the rise of the educated middle classes. Due to his talent for making his sitters pose as if casually, he was one of the most sought-after and influential portrait painters of his time. He had been a member of the Dresden Art Academy since 1766 and held the office of Court Painter of Saxony throughout his life. His portraits include more than 800 portraits of personalities from the nobility and upper middle classes, science, the military and politics, the most famous of which is, of course, the portrait of Frederick the Great, which has since become iconic through Andy Warhol's silkscreen of 1986.