High Society: The Portraits of Franz Xaver Winterhalter

Elegant aristocratic sitters, luxurious fashion and European monarchs - Franz Xaver Winterhalter did it all Incorporates a costume component to explore the interplay between the haute couture creations of Charles Fredrick Worth and the exquisite female portraits by WinterhalterAccompanying exhibitions in Freiburg (Germany) Nov. 2015 - March 2016; Houston (US), April 2016; Compiègne (France), Sept. 2016Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1805-1873) was the most renowned portraitist of European aristocracy of his day, expertly capturing the refinement and opulence of his distinguished sitters. Born and trained in Germany, Winterhalter settled in Paris in 1834, where he became the official court painter to King Louis-Philippe. He gained such international acclaim for his state portraits that he painted all but a few of the monarchs in Europe. In Paris in 1855, at the pinnacle of his career, he painted the noble portrait Empress Eugénie and her Ladies-in-Waiting, which would go on to symbolise an entire era. His 1865 portrait of the Austrian Empress Sissi is also known the world over. The lavishly illustrated publication complements Winterhalter's magnificent portraits of crowned heads of state with selected items of clothing by the contemporary and sought-after couturier Charles Frederick Worth.Contents: Director's Foreword; Acknowledgments; Lenders to the Exhibition; Introduction by Richard Ormond; The Ultimate Court Painter by Helga Kessler Aurisch; Franz Xaver Winterhalter and the Black Forest by Tilmann von Stockhausen; Winterhalter's Italian Interlude by Eugene Barilo von Reisberg; Franz Xaver Winterhalter and French Painting: Echoes of the Salon by Laure Chabanne; Franz Xaver Winterhalter: Painter of Women by Mirja Straub; The Confections of Winterhalter and Worth by Elizabeth Ann Coleman; The Plates; Select Bibliography; Index.