111994

Preparatory work

Princess Bernhard, Duchess of Saxe-Meiningen, née Princess Charlotte of Prussia 1899

Seated three-quarter length, in three-quarter profile to the right, head turned in three-quarter profile to the left, wearing an off-the-shoulder dress with a bodice, and a tiara

Red chalk on paper, 37.5 x 26.7 cm (14 ¾ x 10 ½ in.)

Inscribed lower right: Study / 1898 Erdmansdorf / H.R.H. Charlotte of Meiningen 

Sitters’ Book I, f. 27: Erinnerung grüszt durch Stürme / u Wetter, / Und schüchtern schreibt einen / Sonnenstrahl / Aufs rothe Gold der welcken / Blätter, / Es war einmal!^[1][1] / Charlotte / Erbprinzessin v. S. Meiningen / Prinzessin v. Preussen / Erdmannsdorf. 10ter Juli / 1899.

Private Collection

This preparatory drawing is for the portrait of Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Meiningen [12056] wearing the sapphire and diamond tiara presented to her by Princess Marianne of the Netherlands on the occasion of her marriage to her grandson Prince Bernhard of Saxe-Meiningen [110817]. The present drawing was made at the family estate of Schloss Erdmannsdorf in Silesia in the summer of 1899.

The portraits of Princess Charlotte were the first in a long series commissions by members of the German Imperial Family, culminating in the full-length equestrian portrait of Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1911 [4952] (Stiftung Preussische Schlösser und Gärten, Berlin-Brandenburg, Potsdam, Germany).

Princess Charlotte (1860-1919) was the eldest daughter of Crown Prince Friedrich of Prussia and Victoria, Princess Royal of Great Britain, granddaughter of Queen Victoria.

For biographical notes on the sitter, see [12056].

ATG 2014

BS 2023