Portrait Of Augustus Charles Eugene Napoleon Of Beauharnais - Joseph Bernhardt (1805-1885)

Our painting is a very talented reproduction with variants of the picture painted by Jos de Stieler which can be admired in the Pinacothek of Munich. The canvas is signed and dated on the reverse Very good condition. Original canvas (72 cm by 58 cm) signed and dated on the reverse. Very beautiful Vintage frame (90 cm by 77 cm) Joseph Bernhardt (1805-1885) Painter of landscape and especially, he excels in this field, portraitist very appreciated of the high society of his time. After starting to work alone, he joined the studio of Jos de Stieler to become his pupil. He made a stay in Paris before settling in Munich and founding a school from which artists such as Louis Neusletter, Jos Miller, R.Leuchert ... He painted the Prince of Hohenlohe, King Louis I , Prince Charles and his brother the Prince of thurn and taxis, Prince Luitpold of Bavaria ... King Frederick and William IV, Louis II and Maimilien II. Augustus, Karl, Eugene, Napoleon of Beauharnais of Leuchtenberg. He was born in Milan on December 9, 1810. He is the third child of Eugene de Beauharnais, son of the deceased Alexandre de Beauharnais and Empress Josephine, the adopted son of Emperor Napoleon I and Princess Auguste de Beauharnais. Bavaria, daughter of King Maximilian of Bavaria and Queen Wilhelmina, born Princess of Hesse-Darmstdat. His father, Prince Imperial Eugene, then bears the title of Viceroy of Italy. August has two elder sisters Josephine, Duchess of Galliera born in 1813 who will marry King Oscar I of Sweden and Norway, and Hortense born in 1808, later married to Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Hohenzollern-Hechingen. The family then living in Italy grew with the births of Amelia in 1812, Theodelinde in 1814 and Maximilian in 1817. August and his followers were then forced in 1814 to leave the country at the fall of Napoleon. They settled in Munich with the King of Bavaria, father of the Princess Augustus. The latter is headed by his son-in-law Eugene Duke of Leuchtenberg and Prince of Eichstädt with predicate of His Royal Highness for himself and serene highness for his offspring. August lives in a happy family. He scarcely knew his paternal grandmother the Empress Josephine, who died when he was only four years old, and had regained a taste for travel after his divorce, before suddenly contracting a fatal chill. When he was 14 years old, his father, Prince Eugene, died of a fit of apoplexy, making him the head of the family. In 1829, his younger sister Amelie married Emperor Pedro I of Brazil. It was under his influence that August's future marriage was taking shape. Emperor Pedro I is a widower in first marriage and the father of Queen Maria II of Portugal and the Algarve who won his throne after bitter family struggles. It is thus decided that the young duke of Leuchtenberg, aged 24, will marry the sovereign. The marriage was first celebrated by proxy in Munich on 1 December 1834. August was then titled Duke of Santa Cruz and Prince of Portugal. Religious marriage is celebrated in Lisbon on January 26, 1835. The bride is only 15 years old. The union will be short-lived since Augustus contacts typhoid fever and dies two months after his marriage. Queen Maria II of Portugal remarried the following year with Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Cobourg with whom she would have a descent. His younger brother Maximilian (1817-1852) became then the head of the princely house of Leuchtenberg.