Princess Clementina Metternich (1804-1820) as Hebe, in loose white dress with yellow sash fastened by a strand of pearls and drop pearl pendant at corsage, her dark brown hair curled and upswept

Details

MORITZ MICHAEL DAFFINGER (AUSTRIAN, 1790-1849)
Princess Clementina Metternich (1804-1820) as Hebe, in loose white dress with yellow sash fastened by a strand of pearls and drop pearl pendant at corsage, her dark brown hair curled and upswept
signed 'Daffinger' (mid-right) and inscribed on the backing paper 'Fürstin Clementine Metternich, Tochter des gr. Metternich. Daffinger.'
oval, 2 15/16 in. (74 mm.) high, gilt-metal mount within rectangular mount

Provenance

Baronness Almérie von Levetzow-Salis (in 1905 and 1907).
Christie's, London, 15 October 1996, lot 210.

Literature

E. Leisching, Die Bildnis-Miniatur in Österreich, Vienna, 1907, illustrated opp. p. 132, pl. XXXVI, no. 3, p. 242, no. 89.
E. Pirchan, Moritz Michael Daffinger, Vienna, Leipzig, 1943, illustrated pl. 54 (erroneously as belonging to the Albertina).

Exhibited

Vienna, Palais des k. k. Ministerrats-Präsidiums, Miniaturen-Ausstellung, 1905, no. 1946 (lent by Baroness Almérie von Levetzow-Salis).

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

Princess Clementina Metternich was the second daughter of Prince Metternich and his first wife, Maria Eleonora, née Kaunitz.
This miniature is after an oil portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence painted in Vienna in 1818/1819 (K. Garlick, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Oxford, 1989, no. 559, illustrated p. 237). Lawrence's visit to Vienna was to change Daffinger's artistic style completely. Daffinger's rather academic early style (see lot 351) was replaced by a free technique with broad brushstrokes and particularly glowing colours, and the introduction of heavy drapery in the background composition became one of his new features.
Another version of this miniature was sold in these rooms, 10 July 1991, lot 53 and for a copy, see Dorotheum, Vienna, 25 April 1991, lot 295.

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