Henri-Guillaume Schlesinger, originally Wilhelm Heinrich Schlesinger (6 August 1814, in Frankfurt am Main – 21 February 1893, in Neuilly-sur-Seine) was a French portrait and genre painter of German birth. He was especially known for his lively and sensitive depictions of young women.
Biography He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, and was originally active in that city. He then moved to Paris, where he participated in the Salon from 1840 to 1889 and received two medals.
During a visit to Istanbul in 1837, he was commissioned to do several official paintings of Sultan Mahmud II, including a large equestrian portrait and one of the Sultan wearing Western-style clothing, which is now on display at the Topkapi Palace Museum. One was donated to King Louis-Philippe by Mustafa Reşid Pasha, who was then serving as Ambassador to France, and may now be seen at Versailles.
His painting "The Five Senses" was purchased by Empress Eugénie in 1865. The following year, he was named a Chevalier in the Legion of HonorDossier @ the Base Leonore and became a French citizen in 1870, just before the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War. During the war and the subsequent Commune, he lived in London.
In addition to oil paintings, he was a watercolorist and painted miniatures on ivory.
Works
Image Title Date Size Notes Collection Portrait of a young lady 1832 Private collection Portrait of the art dealer Dominik Artaria 1836 76.5 x 60.5 cm Unknown Bust portrait of a Viennese middle-class woman 1836 76.5 x 60.5 cm Vienna, Belvedere Equestrian portrait of Sultan Mahmud II 1837 Private collection Portrait of a woman 1838 Portrait of Sultan Mahmud II 1839 Private collection Portrait of the writer Louis Lurine 1844 Blind man's buff 1844 Private collection Young women singing and playing the lute 1844 Private collection Young peasant couple 1845 42.9 x 33 cm Private collection A harem interior 1846 74 x 93 cm Private collection A dreamy look 1852 Private collection Courtly scene with a maid 1859 Private collection Two curious girls on the stairs before a Mediterranean landscape 1860 circa 112 x 87 cm Private collection The stolen child 1861 Touch; the five senses 1865 circa 115.5 x 89.5 cm Exhibited at the 1865 salon, and acquired by Napoleon III Private collection Taste; the five senses 1865 circa 115.5 x 89.5 cm Exhibited at the 1865 salon, and acquired by Napoleon III Private collection Hearing; the five senses 1865 circa 115.5 x 89.5 cm Exhibited at the 1865 salon, and acquired by Napoleon III Private collection Smell; the five senses 1865 circa 115.5 x 89.5 cm Exhibited at the 1865 salon, and acquired by Napoleon III Private collection Sight; the five senses 1865 circa 115.5 x 89.5 cm Exhibited at the 1865 salon, and acquired by Napoleon III Private collection Lost in thought 1868 73 x 59.7 cm Private collection Alone at the atelier 1868 125.7 x 108 cm Philadelphia, Museum of Art An Egyptian girl preparing for the bath 1869 90 x 117.5 cm Private collection An Italian maiden 1870 51 x 35 cm Private collection An Italian beauty 1870 72.5 x 60 cm Even if the painting is titled A Spanish beauty, if you see the artwork above has the same clothes, so is quite more likely an Italian one. Private collection Girl with lovebirds 1876 Harrogate, Mercer Art Gallery A beautiful frame 1879 circa The reprimand 1879 Private collection The young artist 1884 Private collection Girl with a mandolin 1887 107 x 63.5 cm Private collection Girl with dead bird 1890 86 x 74 cm Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum Fair in the Pyrenees 31.2 x 42.7 cm United Kingdom, Royal Collection Young dancer with tambourine Private collection Chess players Private collection A ride Private collection Turkish Woman and Chibouk Private collection Welcome change 49 x 66 cm The painting is only attributed Private collection
References
Further reading Schlesinger, Heinrich. In: Ulrich Thieme, Felix Becker (editors): Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Vol. 30, E. A. Seemann, Leipzig 1936, pg. 105. Schlesinger, Heinrich. In: Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon. Die Bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker (AKL). Vol. 9, Saur, Munich, 1994, , pg. 8
External links
More works by Schlesinger @ ArtNet Brief biography @ Wilnitsky Fine Arts Brief biography @ Galerie Ary Jan