Nikolaus Lauer (active circa 1795-1804)

Portrait of Luise, Queen of Prussia, née Princess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1776-1810), standing small full length, wearing a white dress with blue wrap

Details

Nikolaus Lauer (active circa 1795-1804)
Portrait of Luise, Queen of Prussia, née Princess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1776-1810), standing small full length, wearing a white dress with blue wrap
with the crowned inventory number 385 on a label on the reverse and with the inventory numbers 814 (in red) and 4797 (in blue) on the stretcher
pastel on vellum
67.4 x 48.6 cm
and a portrait of the same sitter, standing small half length, after Johann Heinrich Schröder, oil on unlined canvas, oval, unframed, 43.9 x 37.2 cm, with the crowned inventory number 45 on a label on the stretcher and with the inventory numbers 963 (in blue) and 4781 (in blue) on the stretcher (Cat. Schwerin 1954, p.165, n0458). (2)

Literature

P. Seidel, Hohenzollern Jahrbuch - Forschungen und Abbildungen zur Geschichte der Hohenzollern in Brandenburg-Preussen, XIV, 1910, ill., frontispiece (the first).
U. Thieme & F. Becker, Allgemeines Künstler Lexicon, etc., XXII, p.435., where said to have been executed circa 1798 (the first).

Exhibited

Schwerin, 1954, n0458 (the second).

Lot Essay

The prototype of the second portrait exists in two versions, one oil on canvas, 44 x 36.5 cm and the other in pastel, 29 x 25.5 cm, both in the Staatliche Schlösser und Gärten, Berlin (Johann Heinrich Schröder (1757-1812), Preussische Porträts, Verein Historisches Partez e.V. Stiftung Schlösser und Gärten Potsdam-Sanssouci, 1994, pp.53/4, under n041) and was engraved by Ferdinand Ruyscheweyh in 1802 (op. cit., p.54, under n041).
The sitter, daughter of Carl, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Friederike, Princess of Hessen-Darmstadt, married Friedrich Wilhelm III, King of Prussia (1770-1840) in 1793. She was one of the most respected women of her time, known for her courageous attitude during the Napoleonic occupation. Her fame led to numerous versions and copies of Schröder's portrait.

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