Portrait of old lady

The painting of August Ludwig Most is an interesting example of a representative burgher portrait from the Biedermeier epoch. It may be assumed with significant probability that the so-far unidentified woman with expressive dark eyes, narrow lips in a faint smile, dressed in a dark satin dress with a lace shawl is a representative of the Pomeranian tradespeople. The painting attracts attention by very special presentation of the woman’s face and elements of her attire: with painter’s mastery, the artist rendered the details of the richly draped dress, the lace on the bonnet and the pedantically presented shawl with bulging flowery embroidery on a delicate gossamer. August Ludwig Most used his skills of psychological characterisation for the presented model. The model's personality was perceptively shown. Unconventional presentation of the hand holding the decorative chain highlights the woman’s ease and naturalism. Most was a valued portrait painter during his lifetime; his portraits decorated pre-war public premises. He was the author of the gallery of Pomeranian dukes (today only his “Portrait of Duke Barnim XII” executed on the basis of an unknown modern original is currently held in the collections of the National Museum), as well as the gallery of professors of the Marian Gymnasium’s Foundation. Many portraits ordered from Most used to decorate middle class drawing rooms in Szczecin, as well as the interiors of the manor houses of the Pomeranian aristocracy.

Dariusz Kacprzak