Leopold Wilhelm (1614–1662), Archduke of Austria

Artist/Maker

Material / Technique

Dimensionsh x w: Mått 207 x 122 cm

Inventory numberNMGrh 1876

Other titlesTitle (sv): Leopold Vilhelm, 1614-1662, ärkehertig av Österrike Title (en): Leopold Wilhelm (1614–1662), Archduke of Austria

DescriptionCatalogue raisonné: Description in Flemish paintings C. 1600-C. 1800 III, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2010, cat.no. 118: Technical notes: The support, which consists of three pieces of fabric with horizontal seams is of a tightly woven plain-weave, probably linen. All sides have been trimmed to the edges of the current stretcher and covered with strips of paper. Cusping is present on the right side. The canvas has probably been enlarged at the bottom. The painting has been lined, which explains the flatness of expression in the impasto sections, for instance. The lining also means that the selvedges are not visible. There is a brownish-red thickly applied ground. The paint layer is opaque and covers the ground. Underpainting is partly visible in light beige under the face and collar. Certain areas of impasto can be discerned, on the ring mounted with gems, for instance, on pearls and gems, on the cross worn by the Archduke and on the edges of his collar. There are visible pentimenti in the right sleeve where the drapery and the garments meet as well to the left on the tablecloth and the outline between the subject and the background. UV-inspection discloses relatively few retouches in the background, along the edges, in the seams as well as in the lower section of the foreground. There are no visible retouches in the face, hands or the sculpture. Technical examination has revealed that the draped fabrics and the background with its sculpture were painted on their own and that the subject has then been painted in a reserved area. The painting has been provided with a non-original adjustable stretcher. Provenance: Rudolf II’s Kunstkammer, Prague; Sack of Prague 1648; Königsmarck 1648, no. 736; Gripsholm 1745 (in the Governor’s drawing room); transferred in 1823 from the KM to Gripsholm; returned to the NM (see NM 501); to Gripsholm in 1940s. Exhibited: Stockholm 1966, cat. no. 548; Stockholm 2010, cat. no. 77. Bibliography: Sander IV (NM 501), p. 172, No. 304 (bil. No 24); Göthe 1887 (NM 501. Another version in Vienna); Göthe 1893, pp. 172–173; Granberg 1896, p. 53 cat. no. 190; p. 112 no. 120; Granberg 1902b; Ebenstein 1907, p. 225; Granberg 1912, p. 28, no. 128; Granberg 1929, pp. 104, 129, nos. 66–74; Cat. Gripsholm I, 1951, p. 247. The subject, Leopold Wilhelm, Archduke of Austria 1614–1662 and Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, was the son of Emperor Ferdinand II. Leopold Wilhelm held a number of high ecclesiastical offices, for instance bishoprics, and was Grand Master of the Teutonic Order from 1642. He is most famous, however, as art collector and supreme commander of the Imperial army during the final years of the Thirty Years’ War. In 1640 he succeeded in expelling the Swedish army from Bohemia but was later defeated by Lennart Torstensson at Breitenfeld in 1642. In this full-length portrait in the Gripsholm collection, which can be dated on stylistic grounds to c. 1635–1640, particular emphasis is placed on the Archduke’s ecclesiastical rank and his role as an art collector, which finds expression in the gallery of paintings and sculptures depicted in the background on the right. The Archduke is facing three-quarters left, full-length, standing on an oriental rug, wearing a foot-length gown with black buttons and ribbons, a white collar and white cuffs. The scene also contains a table with a red cloth and in the background there is a blue wall-hanging which is light-grey at the bottom, and to the left a pillar and a view into an adjacent gallery with sculptures and paintings. The sculpture of a man displays generally classicist features while the paintings, which are only implied, are hanging in double rows and probably depict a landscape and a still life. Around the Archduke’s neck a bishop’s cross is hanging from a black cord and is decorated with diamonds, pearls and a poiré. On the ring finger of his left hand Leopold Wilhelm is wearing a ring with an angular dark gem and in his right hand he holds a document addressed to “…Erzherzogen Leopold Wilhelm zu Österreich… Memorial… F. Luyckx ?”. His facial expression is distinctly melancholy, he has fair curly hair, light brown eyes and his moustache and pointed beard is brown. A similar facial expression can be seen in a portrait of Leopold Wilhelm in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.1 There is an indecipherable inscription on the Grips holm portrait that may be a signature. The palette of the portrait is austere and restrained, in tune with the elegant, melancholy appearance of its subject. Stylistically the work is characteristic of Luyckx’s portraiture and the influence of the contemporary Spanish portrait tradition, which was at that time very fashionable at the Habsburg court. A technical examination has yielded valuable insight into the artist’s creative process. This reveals that the portrait’s background was executed separately with the area to be occupied by the subject left in outline to be added later. An opaque colour surface contrasts with a few areas of impasto that enhance the impression of the sparkle of the buttons and pearls. The face and hands are untouched, while UV inspection of the background reveals a number of fluorescent and added secondary retouches. The portrait was seized by the Swedish army during the sack of Rudolf II’s Kunstkammer in 1648. It was then transported together with a large number of other works to Sweden, to be placed initially in the castle at Skokloster and then in the old Three Crowns Castle in the centre of Stockholm. Events of this kind may seem paradoxical from a contemporary perspective and as typical of the fate of plunder in the 17th century. But the acquisition by Protestant Sweden of the portrait of its sworn enemy, an eminent representative of the Catholic Church and of Habsburg power, was probably regarded as a major triumph and proof of Swedish military success during its great power era. The portrait remained in Sweden after the abdication of Queen Christina in 1654. After this event, the subject of the portrait was to act as Christina’s host while she was staying in the Netherlands. On 9 September 1654 Leopold Wilhelm visited Christina in Antwerp. The Gripsholm inventory for 1745 lists a full-length portrait of Leopold Wilhelm, seized in 1648 as a trophy of war in Prague, among other portraits of European princes and rulers in the castle. Inscription (top right): “archidvx leopoldvs episco:pvs passaviensis”; (on letter): “An die hoch…Erzherzogen Leopold Wilhelm zu Öster - reich… Memorial…” (then indecipherable but perhaps “F…? Luyckx?”) KS [End]

Depicted Person

Collection

MaterialOil paint

TechniquePainting

Object category

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