Ceremonial portraits of Prince Peter Lvovich Wittgenstein in the context of his iconography

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of three ceremonial portraits of Prince Peter Lvovich Wittgenstein, a general of the Russian army and the richest landowner in Belarus in the 19th century. Most of ceremonial portraits of 19th century military men were perished in the whirlwind of wars and revolutions of the 20th century. Finding each such work, even outside our country, is of great interest.

The prince’s maternal ancestors were representatives of the most famous aristocratic family in the history of Belarus. His father was the son of a Russian field marshal, hero of the war with Napoleon. Prince Peter did not leave children, all of his portraits are now outside Belarus about the descendants of his sister and brother.

The paintings were revealed by the author himself, have not been studied before.

The earliest portrait dates from the 1850s. and represents the prince in the uniform of a junior officer of the Horse Guards Regiment. The author’s name is not known, there is a copy of J. N. Bernhardt. The next portrait was painted by an unknown artist around 1864. The latest portrait represents a prince in a general’s uniform, completed by the Austrian artist Z. L’Alleman in 1888 after the death of his hero. Two copies of this portrait are also kept in private collections of his descendants.

The article presents descriptions of portraits and their copies, analysis of the history of creation and existence in the context of the prince’s biography and his iconography, through the prism of the Russian and European tradition of writing ceremonial portraits of government officials.