NANETTE ROSENZWEIG, NÉE WINDISCH (late 18th early 19th Century)

The Duke of Reichstadt as a young boy, full-length in blue-bordered long white dress, blue shoes; standing in a landscape near the edge of a lake, with rocks, reeds, trees and a circular temple in the background, holding a dove in the folds of his arms

Details

NANETTE ROSENZWEIG, NÉE WINDISCH (late 18th early 19th Century)
The Duke of Reichstadt as a young boy, full-length in blue-bordered long white dress, blue shoes; standing in a landscape near the edge of a lake, with rocks, reeds, trees and a circular temple in the background, holding a dove in the folds of his arms
signed 'Nanett Windisch feci' (lower left)
rectangular, 4¾ x 3 5/8 in. (120 x 92 mm.), ormolu mount with inner beaded border, on a blind-stamped green leather panel applied with pierced foliate gilt-bronze spandrels, the base of the reverse gilt-stamped with the Imperial Austrian Eagle

Literature

L. R. Schidlof, The Miniature in Europe, Graz, 1964, II, p. 695.

Lot Essay

Napoleon II Francis-Charles-Joseph-Bonaparte (1811-1832), son of Napoleon I and Archduchess Marie-Louise of Habsburg. After the fall of his father, loyal Bonapartists proclaimed him Emperor Napoleon II on 28 June 1815, but he was formally deposed five days later. From 1814 until his early death from tuberculosis, he was forced to live at the Austrian Court where the present miniature was painted. He spent most of his life in the castle of Schönbrunn and his grandfather Emperor Francis II of Austria created him Duke of Reichstadt in 1818 in place of his Napoleonic title of King of Rome. He is said to have a love affair with the ballerina Fanny Elssler but died without issue.

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