Philip, Count of Flanders (1837-1905) 1844
Oil on canvas | 49.0 x 40.0 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 400784
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Winterhalter was born in the Black Forest where he was encouraged to draw at school. In 1818 he went to Freiburg to study under Karl Ludwig Sch?ler and then moved to Munich in 1823, where he attended the Academy and studied under Josef Stieler, a fashionable portrait painter. Winterhalter was first brought to the attention of Queen Victoria by the Queen of the Belgians and subsequently painted numerous portraits at the English court from 1842 till his death.
The sitter was the second son of Leopold, King of the Belgians (1790-.1865) and Queen Louise (1812-1850), who had told Queen Victoria that she would try to have the boy painted for her by Winterhalter in 1839. In July 1844 she wrote that Winterhalter had begun pictures of her older son, Leopold, and Philip and that she would 'have afterwards copies of the heads made?in the dimension you have sent me'. Philip was described by a contemporary in 1850 as straightforward, honest, courageous and of strong intellect. Queen Victoria was fond of him and he often stayed with her in England.
Inscribed on the back with the names of the artist and sitter (aged seven) and the date, 1844.Provenance
Given to Queen Victoria for Christmas 1844 by the sitter's mother, Louise, Queen of the Belgians; recorded in the Queen's Sitting Room at Buckingham Palace in 1868
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Creator(s)
(nationality)Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
Oil on canvas
Measurements
49.0 x 40.0 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
69.0 x 60.1 x 5.7 cm (frame, external)
Category
Object type(s)
Other number(s)
Alternative title(s)
Philippe, Count of Flanders (1837-1905)