Beschreibung:

Attributed to Joseph Karl Stieler (German, 1781-1858) Study of a mother and child, said to be Georgiana Brummell, Lady Pigott (1802-1886), and her daughter Mary (1837-1913) inscribed and dated "Tegernsee, Stieler, 1847" to the reverse oil on canvas h:47 w:36 cm Provenance: The present portrait presumably remained at Denston after the death of the Pigotts, until bequeathed in 1939 by Christopher Pigott's (later Jeaffreson and Robinson) widow Mary, when inherited by the latter's half brother's daughter, grandmother of the present owner. Literature: No. 18 on the family list. A copy of a larger picture (according to an old inscription) Georgiana Brummell, niece of 'Beau' Brummell, was the wife of Sir Thomas Pigott, 2nd Bart. (1796-1847). The Pigotts seem to have been given Denston to live in by their sister in law, Henrietta Jeaffreson, when she inherited it in 1826 from her Robinson mother. This is possibly a study for or an old copy of a painting by Joseph Stieler, which was apparently bought by the Empress of Prussia, according to an old inscription on the reverse of the frame. Stieler, most famous for a 'Gallery of Beauties' which he painted for the Bavarian King Ludwig I (today at Schloss Nymphenburg in Munich), specialized in idealizing portraits. His paintings are highly finished images which show his sitters, often members of the German high society (among them celebrities such as Goethe, A. V. Humboldt and Beethoven), from their 'best side'. Stieler, a decendant of a long-established family of artists, trained in Vienna and Paris and, having spent time in Italy, he settled in Munich where he worked mainly for the royal family, but, like Franz Xaver Winterhalter court painter to the British Royal Family, he also depicted a number of beautiful ladies from England. This portrait of a sleeping mother and child, most likely from the early 1840s, is in many ways exceptional for Stieler's oeuvre: Setting the depicted couple against neutral background, allows the painter to focus exclusively on the sitters' feautures (a typical feature of Stieler's work) - the delicate rendering of the mother's face, the radiant skin with rosy cheeks, arched eyebrows and and pink lips are reminiscent of portraits such as that of Maria Dietsch (ill.). Our painting however conveys an exceptional sense of intimacy, which is rarely found in Stieler's more formal work. The lady depicted is said to be Georgiana Brummell, Lady Pigott (1802/04-1886). Georgiana Brummell, niece of 'Beau' Brummell, was the wife of Sir Thomas Pigott, 2nd Bart (1796-1847). The Pigotts seem to have been given Denston Hall, Suffolk, to live in by their sister in law, Henrietta Jeafferson, when she inherited it in 1826 from her Robinson mother, and her daughter Mary (1837-1914), which supports the suggested date in the early 1840s, which must have been commissioned as a remembrance of the motherly bond between the sitters rather than a representative portrait. Still, according to an inscription on an old label on the reverse of the frame, the original caught the attention and was acquired by the Empress of Prussia (presumably Elisabeth of Bavaria, queen consort of Prussia who was herself painted by Stieler on several occasions). The composition seemingly alludes to Stieler's famous depiction of a guardian angel (Landesmuseum Mainz), but also recalls elements found in other works, for example the child's tilted head which may be compared to that of Maximiliane of Bavaria hugging a lamb in the famous triple-portrait of Elisabeth, Amalie and Maximiliane of Bavaria. Depicting the sitters sleeping underlines the child's innocence and the mother's pure beauty, which the spectator is invited to observe in an almost voyeuristic way. Whilst the image is gentle, sweet and beautiful, Stieler just about manages to escape the notion of kitsch. Interesting also is the unfinished, sketchlike appearance of the image, which offers us a rare glimpse of the artist's working practice, underlining