Portrait Of A Noblewoman By Barbara Krafft (iglau, 1764 - Bamberg, 1825), Attr.

This classical portrait of a noblewoman was painted around 1800. Due to the close similarity in style and the time of creation, it has been attributed to the Austrian female portrait and genre painter Barbara Krafft, née Steiner (1764 Iglau - 1825 Bamberg).

Barbara Krafft was a sensitive and classicist artist. The artist was one of the most sought-after and active portrait painters of her time. In the last four years, in Bamberg alone, she painted 145 portraits. Due to the large number of her paintings, the precision of their execution is not always up to scratch, but, according to art connoisseurs, they are largely forgotten today, undeservedly. Her portrait of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the best known today, is the one she painted in 1819, 28 years after Mozart's death, on behalf of Joseph Sonnleithner, according to Maria Anna, Mozart's sister, and in obvious reference to the "large family picture" attributed to the long Johann Nepomuk della Croce, which recent research denies. Krafft's painting is one of the most frequently reproduced portraits of Mozart today. Barbara Krafft created not only portraits, but also altarpieces and genre scenes, influenced by the Dutch artist Gerrit van Honthorst. According to art experts, her treatment of colors deserves special attention.

Literature: Biographical Lexicon of the Austrian Empire; Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815-1950, publisher of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1969; Barbara Krafft nata Steiner. Jihlava 1764-1825, Bamberg. Paintings and study sheets. Bamberg: Bamberg Art Association, 1976; artist dictionaries: Saur, Thieme/Becker, H. Fuchs.

Inscription: unsigned.

Material: oil on canvas, original period wooden frame.

Dimensions: unframed: W 53 x L 66 cm; framed: W 65 x L 78 cm.

Condition: good, the canvas has been professionally restored and relined.