Portrait Of Countess Carolina Reuss Ebersdorf. Nineteenth Century.

Portrait of Countess Carolina Reuss Ebersdorf.
Nineteenth century.
Mixed media on paper: charcoal, chalk highlights, red earth.

The drawing is in an antique gilded wooden frame. On the cardboard that protects the drawing on the back there is an inscription with the name of the woman depicted: Caroline Reuss Ebersdorf.
However, the date, 1839, is after the death of the noblewoman, mother of important historical figures.
The unmistakable resemblance to the Countess and later Princess Auguste Karoline Sophie Prinzessin Reuß zu Lobenstein und Ebersdorf[, wife of Franz Frederick of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and grandmother of Queen Victoria of England, suggests that it is a post-mortem portrait , carried out in memory of a loved one or for family reasons or for reasons of social interests.
Moreover, in the life of Augusta Carolina, portraits had great importance. Her father had a portrait of her painted in 1775 by none other than one of the greatest painters of the time, Tischbein.
Her parent, aware of the exceptional beauty of her daughter (she was considered one of the most beautiful women of the time), ordered her portrait, which was then bought by her future husband.