Christian Schilbach, Portrait of Frederick III Chest... Lot 4100

Christian Schilbach, Portrait of Frederick III Chest portrait of a young nobleman in armour, with ermine-trimmed purple coat and luxuriant allonge wig, this is probably the youthful hereditary prince Frederick III. of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and later Prince and 1732-72 Duke of the Ernestine-Wettine collateral line (1699 Gotha to 1772 Gotha), a painting by Schilbach very similar to the present portrait is kept at Friedenstein Palace in Gotha, the special feature of Schilbach's painting was the use of cambered copper plates as the painting ground, which permit a glazing, enamel-like painting technique specialised in the finest reproduction of effects, The delicate facial features of the young ruler are rendered almost photorealistically and the materiality of the elaborately gilded armour and ermine cloak are captured in the best possible way. However, the filigree lace and the red bow of the ruff attract particular attention and emerge almost fully plastic from the picture in the play of light and shadow... The cambered form of the support gives the portraits an impression of plasticity - they seem to emerge optically from the pictorial space. This effect is most evident in the painted faces, as they are always positioned on the vertical central axis and thus lie on the strongest point of the curvature. The convex shape in combination with the detailed rendering of the facial features results in an unusually lifelike depiction of the persons portrayed. ...", this quality was also appreciated by his patrons and Lothar Franz von Schönborn, who was portrayed by Schilbach in 1714, praised the painter in a letter shortly afterwards "... Der gothaische Mahler hatt ein perfect gueth contrefait von mir gemacht ...", fine glazed baroque portrait painting with beautiful light, oil on arched copper sheet, mounted on a scrubbed wooden plate, c. 1710, unsigned, wooden plate warped, old retouching, paint chips, in need of restoration, framed in a gilt oval frame (in need of restoration), folding dimensions c. 55.5 x 40.5 cm. Artist's info: Baptismal name Christianus Schilbach, also Christian Schildbach, German portrait painter. Portrait painter, restorer and curator of the Kunstkammer (1668 Plauen in the Vogtland until 1741 Gotha), artistic education probably in Plauen, here still mentioned as "Kunstmahler" in 1688 and 1689, probably undertook a study trip to Italy, where he learned to paint cambered copper plates, 1696 mentioned as court painter in Dresden, about 1706 court painter at the Viennese court, from 1708 appointed official court painter and art chamberlain at the court of Duke Friedrich II. of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1676-1732), portrayed the ducal couple of Saxe-Eisenach in 1708, 1714-15 temporarily worked for the prince-bishop of Bamberg as well as elector and archbishop of Mainz Lothar Franz von Schönborn (1655-1729), active in Gotha, Source: Thieme-Becker, Saur "Bio-Bibliographisches Künstlerlexikon", Füßli, Nagler, Frank Weiß "Malerei im Vogtland", master's thesis ""Christian Schilbach (1668-1741), Hofmaler und Kunstkämmerer in Gotha" by Albrecht Bausch and articles by Louise Schmidt (Stiftung Schloss Friedenstein Gotha), Hannsmanfred Stumpf and Matthias Wenzel on the artist.