1 / 3
Photo 1/3 du lotPhoto 2/3 du lotPhoto 3/3 du lot
Premium OSENAT

297 - Conrad GEIGER.1751-1808. Attributed to.
See original version (French)

Estimate €20,000 - €30,000
Sale commission
Description
Conrad GEIGER.1751-1808. Attributed to. Portrait of Maximilian Joseph I (1756-1825), First King of Bavaria Portrait of Caroline of Baden (1776-1841), First Queen of Bavaria Circa 1807 Oil on canvas Dimensions: 74 cm × 60 cm, With frame: 85 cm × 71 cm. The official effigy of the new sovereigns of Bavaria In 1799, Maximilian Joseph von Wittelsbach inherited the Duchy of Bavaria and came to power as Elector Maximilian IV. Very close to France, he supported Napoleon politically and militarily when he became head of the Empire. As a reward for his loyalty, the new emperor raised Bavaria to the rank of kingdom in 1805, making Maximilian the first king of this new state. To seal his alliance with France, Maximilian agreed to break the engagement of his eldest daughter, Augusta, to the heir grand duke of Baden, so that she could marry Eugène de Beauharnais, the adopted son and heir apparent of the French emperor. Produced around 1807, our paintings were probably part of a series of official effigies intended to establish the legitimacy of the new King of Bavaria. The portrait of Maximilian Joseph is a bust version of his official portrait, now in the Bavarian Army Museum. This painting, produced around 1806, laid the foundations for the new royal iconography. As for the portrait of Caroline, a work by Conrad Geiger confirms that it corresponds to the counterpart of the official portrait of her husband and is therefore based on an official model. Portraiture in the service of the Bavarian dynasty: Geiger, Stieler and Winterhalter This new royal court became the epicentre of Bavarian artistic production, which focused largely on official portraits. It was against this backdrop that Conrad Geiger, famous for his portraits of notables since the end of the 18th century and who had been working for Maximilian since 1803, was asked to represent the new sovereigns. Encouraged by the new monarchs, other Bavarian painters put their talent at the service of the House of Bavaria. Following in the footsteps of Conrad Geiger, Joseph Stieler joined this new tradition and made a major contribution to the dissemination of the official image of the Bavarian sovereigns and their descendants. After moving to the Bavarian court in 1820, he painted portraits of all the members of the royal family. This artistic tradition was continued by Franz Xaver Winterhalter. A pupil of Stieler and trained in his Munich studio, he perpetuated the art of Bavarian court portraiture by depicting the descendants of Maximilian and Caroline of Bavaria, who were destined to reign or join the major European dynasties. Descendants destined to rule Europe Through his two marriages, Joseph Maximilian of Bavaria left a lasting mark on the history of Europe's greatest courts. His first marriage was to Princess Auguste-Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt (1765-1796) on 30 September 1785. They had five children. Although they all held prestigious positions, three of them became sovereigns or imperials. Louis Charles Auguste (1786-1868) succeeded his father on the throne of Bavaria. Auguste Amélie of Bavaria married Eugène de Beauharnais, Viceroy of Italy, Duke of Leuchtenberg and Prince of Eichstätt. Their descendants would in turn play a major role in the history of the European monarchies. Caroline-Augusta (1792-1873) became Empress of Austria when she married Emperor Francis I (1768-1835). After the premature death of his wife, who died at the age of thirty in 1796, Maximilian Joseph remarried Princess Caroline of Baden in Karlsruhe on 9 March 1797. This second marriage produced eight children. The three eldest daughters became Queens of Prussia and Saxony. The fourth, Sophie (1805-1872), Archduchess of Austria, was the mother of Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary. Ludovica (1808-1892), the couple's seventh child, was the mother of Elisabeth Amélie Eugenie of Bavaria (1837-1898), Empress of Austria, better known as Sissi. Caroline of Baden was therefore the grandmother of both Emperor Franz Joseph I and Empress Sissi, the emblematic figure of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. The royal couple of Bavaria are thus at the source of a vast dynastic network that spans the whole of Europe. Through their children and grandchildren, they gave rise to the ruling families of Italy, Prussia, Bavaria, Austria, Hungary, the Netherlands and Sweden, illustrating the exceptional influence of the House of Wittelsbach in the 19th century.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
About the sale The Empire at Fontainebleau - Second day
Auction location
Auction time 06/21/2026 at 10:30 AM
Lot description modified on 06/10/2026 at 9:58 AM
Pictures credits:
Michel Bury and Henri du Cray
See original version (French)
You may also like