THE CONTINENTAL ROMANTICS with Eugene Barilo von Reisberg

The 19th century saw an unprecedented flowering of portrait painting in Russia, where Vladimir Borovikovsky and Karl Briullov captured the dazzling display of splendour of the Russian Imperial Family and their fabulously wealthy courtiers.

The Napoleonic Wars influenced the development of portraiture in Central Europe, including the emergence of the understated Biedermeier style of Ferdinand Waldmüller, and the Empire-style inspired Romanticism of Joseph Karl Stieler, renowned for his Gallery of Beauties at the Nymphenburg Palace.

The improved travel conditions saw the emergence of the glamorous cosmopolitan elite, which were elegantly captured by the equally cosmopolitan Franz Xaver and his contemporaries from France, Italy, and Spain.

EUGENE BARILO VON REISBERG is a writer, researcher, and art consultant. He is an internationally acknowledged authority on Franz Xaver Winterhalter, the 19th century elite portrait specialist, and he is currently completing a doctoral thesis on the artist at the University of Melbourne.

Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1805-1873), Portrait of Elisabeth, Empress of Austria, 1865, Hofburg Palace, Vienna