Portrait of a Woman

Nineteenth-century Berlin, an embodiment of the Prussian state's ambitions, was regarded alongside Imperial-Hapsburg Vienna as Europe's most dynamically thriving metropolis. Doubtless, the rapid increase in the population of the Prussian capital, as well as its growing wealth, had a direct impact on the development of the portrait market. The featured image of a woman is a typical example of conventional Berlin portrait production of the Biedermeier era. The image of a serene, gazing elderly woman has been captured against a tone-diverse, dark green background tinged with grey. Painted with precision, a smooth finish, and attention to detail, the painting is a costume testimony to the period. The figure is dressed in a dark grey gown with a white lace collar and red jabot - in keeping with the prevailing canon of mid-19th century formal attire for women. Her smoothly combed hair bears a cap of white lace with a decoratively pinned ribbon featuring a red and blue chequered pattern. The portrait's creator, Berlin-born Hermann Ernecke (1817-1894), studied at the Royal Prussian Academy of Arts in the Prussian capital under Ferdinand Hübner. From 1839, he presented his works at exhibitions of his alma mater. He mainly produced traditional portraits of women and men and anecdotal, sometimes stylised images of children against landscapes and genre scenes in interiors. In 1893, he exhibited his Portrait of Frederick III in Berlin. He also portrayed his fellow painters Arthur Neumann and Hermann Kretzschmer. Among the many people Ernecke immortalised on canvas was Professor Sieber, director of the Stargard Chamber of Natural History. Dariusz Kacprzak