Lot 16: JOHANN HEINRICH ENGELBERT NEUMANN, 1801-1879

PORTRAIT OF ALEXANDRA PAVLOVA, GRAND DUCHESS OF RUSSIA (1783 -1801)AND ELENA PAVLOVNA, GRAND DUCHESS OF RUSSIA (1784-1803)

101.5 by 94.5cm., 40 by 37¼in.

signed in Latin m.l. and dated 1849

oil on canvas

PROVENANCE

The Royal House of Hanover, Schloss Blankenburg
Sotheby's, The Royal House of Hanover Sale, 15th October 2005, Lot 5172

NOTE

In 1796 Catherine the Great commissioned a painting of her two eldest granddaughters by Elisabeth-Louise Vigée-Lebrun. It is known that the Empress was unhappy with the original painting. She complained about the bold colours of the girls' dresses and their tousled coiffure. Despite this harsh critique several copies of this painting were executed and can be found in noble collections throughout Europe. The main difference between the original by Vigée-Lebrun and the present lot by Neumann is that the girls are holding a miniature of their father Paul I, instead of a miniature of their grandmother, Catherine II.