Lot 612 | Barbara Rosina von Lisiewska | Portrait of the Hereditary Prince Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand von Braunschweig (1735 - 1806)

LISIEWSKA, BARBARA ROSINA VON
('verwitwete Matthieu; verheiratete de Gasc')
1713 Berlin - 1783 Dresden

Title: Portrait of the Hereditary Prince Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand von Braunschweig (1735 - 1806).
Technique: Oil on canvas.
Mounting: Relined.
Measurement: 53 x 41cm.
Frame/Pedestal: Framed.
Expert opinion:
Helmut Börsch-Supan, Berlin, 27.01.2001, copy available.

The German-Polish portraitist Barbara Rosina de Gasc, who was erroneously called Anna Rosina, was the daughter of the well-known painter Georg von Lisiewka, who also trained her. As early as 1734, she received her first call to Dresden, which she turned down in favour of sharing a studio with her father. In 1755, after the death of her first husband, the court painter David Matthieu, she finally went to Zerbst and there produced her cycle of the so-called Gallery of Beauty, in which she portrayed forty ladies of the Prussian court. Marrying Ludwig de Gasc - a friend of Lessing - the couple moved to Brunswick in 1764, where she was appointed court painter on 11.08.1777. Her outstanding qualities led to her being appointed an honorary member of the Dresden Academy in 1765.

In the present portrait she depicts Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand of Brunswick, who was born in 1735 as the son of Duke Karl I of Brunswick and his wife Philippine Charlotte - a daughter of Frederick William I of Prussia. Appointed general in 1773, he took over the government seven years later and led the Prussian-Saxon troops against Napoleon during the Revolution.
Barbara Rosina de Gasc shows him in a representative three-quarter portrait befitting his status, the self-confident gaze striking the viewer. The artist underlines the military and political successes of the hereditary prince through fine details as well as in gestures and facial expressions. The rolled-up map in his right hand together with the sweeping arm movement pointing to the distance indicates his political ambitions. Her work is characterised by a fine and detailed way of painting that gains psychological depth by the realist perception.
Helmut Börsch-Supan confirms in his report from 26.01.2001 the authorship of the court painter and additionally confirms the presented figures as the said hereditary prince.