Search Request | Object report

Frederick William I, known as the Soldatenkönig" (* 1713, † 1740)

Lost Art-ID
596705
after Hammerschmidt, 14.135
View of the hall on the second floor of Neumühle Castle, on the right the lost portrait of Frederick William I, on the left the portrait of Elisabeth Christine, wife of Frederick the Great, which was saved by the family from Neumühle, photo after Hammerschmidt 2001, fig. 14.048; slide after a print by the American photographer Erling J. Foss, Colorado Springs, CO in the house archive of the Counts von der Schulenburg (not yet inventoried).
Artist / Creator
Pesne, Antoine (Umkreis oder Werkstatt)
Birth
1683.05.23, Paris
Death
1757.08.05, Berlin
Title
Frederick William I, known as the Soldatenkönig" (* 1713, † 1740)
Dating
1730/1740 (um)
Object type
Painting
Group of reported objects
Painting
Material / Technique
Oil ; Canvas / painted
Height
265.00 cm
Width
165.00 cm
Description

Standing figure with pronounced belly in three-quarter profile, the face turned slightly towards the viewer, dressed in armour with an order sash, wearing a rapier at the belt on the left, the right hand resting on the sash at hip height, the left hand braced at the side; in the background on the right a battle, in the foreground on the left "his ermine coat lies on a stool or chair." "The trouser legs of his leather trousers are tucked into comfortable boots. [...] In his right hand he holds the prince's staff." (Hammerschmidt 2001).

This is a variant of the famous portrait of the king by Antoine Pesne, which is now in Charlottenburg Palace (Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg (SPSG), GK I 1173), and is dated to around 1733, although the posture of the left hand has been altered.

According to current knowledge, the paintings from the holdings of Field Marshal Matthias Johann von der Schulenburg were inscribed on the reverse with the same or nearly the same wording as the entries in his inventories. However, these inscriptions may have been at least partially removed during restoration.

Provenance

Old family property; with some certainty the painting traceable since 1736 in the collection of General Field Marshal in Venetian service Matthias Johann von der Schulenburg (* 1661, † 1747), who had received this and its counterpart, the portrait of the King's wife, painted by Antoine Pesne, as a gift from the latter; until the dissolution of his Italian households after his death in the Palazzo Loredan, on the Grand Canal, Venice, which he occupied; Fideikommiss Matthias Johann von der Schulenburg; by division of inheritance after 1775 into the Wolfsburg branch of the von der Schulenburg family; before 1942 Wolfsburg Castle (until 1932 Gardelegen County, Province of Saxony; then Gifhorn County, Province of Hanover; today Wolfsburg City); then moved to the newly built Neumühle Castle near Tangeln, municipality of Beetzendorf in the Altmark County of Salzwedel, former location there: "Hall, 2. Upper floor".

Last documented by historical photograph in Neumühle Castle; left behind in 1945 during the flight from Neumühle Castle before it was taken over by the Red Army; Neumühle Castle was assigned to the Soviet occupation zone and expropriated; whereabouts unknown

Literature / Source
Dokumentiert in der Sammlung des Feldmarschalls M. J. von der Schulenburg und seiner Erben in Venedig und Berlin durch eine Vielzahl von Inventaren und andere zeitgenössische Quellen; Berckenhagen, E. et al.: Antoine Pesne, hg. v. d. Verwaltung der ehem. Staatlichen Schlösser und Gärten Berlin in Verbindung mit dem Deutschen Verein für Kunstwissenschaft, Berlin 1958, unter 122e das Original im Schloss Charlottenburg „Ehem. Berlin, Schloß Monbijou, bzw. Potsdam, Schloß Charlottenburg“; unter Nr. 122 ea. – em. verschiedene Kopien davon, nicht aber diese; Hammerschmidt, G. (i. A. der Grafen von der Schulenburg-Wolfsburg): Das Schicksal des Kunst- und Kulturgutes von Schloss Wolfsburg-Neumühle im Altmarkkreis Salzwedel ab dem Zeitpunkt des Erlasses der Provinzialverwaltung Sachsen, Stand: November 2001 (Maschinenschrift, Nov. 2001, Hausarchiv der Grafen von der Schulenburg-Wolfsburg), lfd. Nr. 06.083 (fälschlich als: Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg, gen. der Große Kurfürst (* 1620, † 1688)).
Published since
Contact
Graf von der Schulenburg
Verwaltung
Phone
+49 (0) 5363 97190
E-Mail
info@graf-schulenburg.de
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