Portraits of Frederick the Great

Frederick the Great was the subject of many portraits. Many were painted during Frederick's life, and he would give portraits of himself as gifts. Almost all portraits of Frederick are idealized and do not reflect how he looked according to his death mask.Arnold Hildebrand, Das Bildnis Friedrichs des Großen: Zeitgenössische Darstellungen, 2nd edition (Berlin: Nibelungen-Verlag, 1942), pp. 140–142 and plates 65–69. It has been suggested that the most accurate representation of Frederick may be the picture of a flautist from the English painter William Hogarth's 1743 painting Marriage A-la-Mode: 4. The Toilette.Melvyn New, "Das einzig authentische Porträt des Alten Fritz?: Is the only true likeness of Frederick the Great to be found in Hogarth's Marriage A-la-Mode? by Bernd Krysmanski" (review), The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats, Vol. 51, No. 2 (Spring 2019), p. 198.Bernd Krysmanski, Does Hogarth Depict Old Fritz Truthfully with a Crooked Beak? – The Pictures Familiar to Us from Pesne to Menzel Don’t Show This, ART-dok (University of Heidelberg: arthistoricum.net, 2022).

Paintings and etchings During the lifetime of Frederick the Great a large number of idealized portraits were made of him by many painters and engravers, among them Antoine Pesne,Hildebrand, Das Bildnis Friedrichs des Großen, pp. 91–94, 96–98, 105–106, 107–115 and plates 5–8, 12–15, 25–26, 28–35.Helmut Börsch-Supan, “Friedrich der Große im zeitgenössischen Bildnis”, in Oswald Hauser (ed.), Friedrich der Grosse in seiner Zeit (Cologne and Vienna: Böhlau, 1987), pp. 260–261, 263, 264–266 and figs. 3, 4, 7, 9, 10. Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff,Hildebrand, Das Bildnis Friedrichs des Großen, pp. 99–105 and plates 16–22.Börsch-Supan, “Friedrich der Große im zeitgenössischen Bildnis”, pp. 262–263 and figs. 5–6. Johann Georg Ziesenis,Hildebrand, Das Bildnis Friedrichs des Großen, pp. 118–121 and plates 38–39.Börsch-Supan, “Friedrich der Große im zeitgenössischen Bildnis”, p. 266 and fig. 12.Karin Schrader, Der Bildnismaler Johann Georg Ziesenis (1717–1776): Leben und Werk mit kritischem Oeuvrekatalog (Münster: LIT, 1995), pp. 101–119.See also Portrait of Frederick II of Prussia by Johann Georg Ziesenis.Frederick the Great portrait auctioned for €670,000 Gottfried Hempel,Reimar F. Lacher, "Friedrich, unser Held": Gleim und sein König (Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2017), pp. 9–11.Gottfried Hempel, Portrait of Frederick the Great, Bavarian State Painting Collections, Munich.Gleimhaus Museum der deutschen Aufklärung: Porträt Friedrichs des Großen, c.1760. Johann Heinrich Christian Franke,Hildebrand, Das Bildnis Friedrichs des Großen, pp. 121–123 and plates 40–42.Börsch-Supan, “Friedrich der Große im zeitgenössischen Bildnis”, pp. 257–258 and fig. 2. Charles-Amédée-Philippe van Loo,Hildebrand, Das Bildnis Friedrichs des Großen, p. 122.Börsch-Supan, “Friedrich der Große im zeitgenössischen Bildnis”, p. 267.Royal Collection Trust: Charles-Amédée-Philippe van Loo, Frederick II, King of Prussia (1763-69). Anna Dorothea Therbusch,Hildebrand, Das Bildnis Friedrichs des Großen, pp. 132–133 and plates 57–58.Anna Dorothea Therbusch, Frederick the Great (c.1775). Anton Graff,Hildebrand, Das Bildnis Friedrichs des Großen, pp. 133–135 and plates 59–60.Ekhart Berckenhagen, Anton Graff: Leben und Werk (Berlin: Deutscher Verlag für Kunstwissenschaft, 1967), p. 19.Börsch-Supan, “Friedrich der Große im zeitgenössischen Bildnis”, pp. 255–257 and fig. 1. Johann Georg WilleAndrea M. Kluxen, Bild eines Königs: Friedrich der Große in der Graphik (Limburg an der Lahn: C. A. Starke, 1986), pp. 65, 69, 70, 76, 79, 81 and figs. 5, 7, 13.Princeton University Art Museum: Johann Georg Wille, Frederic II King of Prussia, engraving, 1757. Georg Friedrich SchmidtKluxen, Bild eines Königs: Friedrich der Große in der Graphik, pp. 63, 64, 66-68, 70, 79, 81 and figs. 4 and 6.Tilman Just, Georg Friedrich Schmidt, Chronologisches Verzeichnis seiner Kupferstiche und Radierungen (Universität Heidelberg: arthistoricum.net, 2021), cat. nos. 87 and 98.The British Museum: Georg Friedrich Schmidt, Fredericus III Rex Borussiae, engraved portrait of Frederick II of Prussia as Frederick III Elector of Brandenburg, 1743.Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Kupferstich-Kabinett: Georg Friedrich Schmidt, Frederick II, King of Prussia, engraving, 1746. and Daniel Chodowiecki.Hildebrand, Das Bildnis Friedrichs des Großen, pp. 126–128, 131–132 and plates 48–50, 56.Kluxen, Bild eines Königs: Friedrich der Große in der Graphik, pp. 50, 52, 55–56, 85, 95, 100, 105-123, 128–129, 131.Rainer Michaelis, “Friedrich der Große im Spiegel der Werke des Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki,” in Friederisiko: Friedrich der Große, exh. cat., Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg, 2 vols (Munich: Hirmer, 2012), Die Essays, pp. 262–271.University of Oxford: Daniel Chodowiecki, Frederick the Great on his horse (after 1772).Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin: Daniel Chodowiecki, Fridericus Magnus Rex Borussiae (1758).

The king gave several of these pictures away as gifts in recognition of rendered services,Frauke Mankartz: "Die Marke Friedrich: Der preußische König im zeitgenössischen Bild," in Friederisiko: Friedrich der Große: Die Ausstellung, exh. cat., Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg, 2012 (Munich: Hirmer, 2012), pp. 210–215. whether as life-size paintings, miniatures set with diamonds that were worn like medals, or representations on snuff boxes.The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Snuffbox cover with portrait of Frederick the Great (1712–1786), King of Prussia However, most portraits were produced for commercial reasons without being commissioned by the king, because there was a demand for his likeness from all of the courts of Europe. None of these official portraits show the real facial features of the monarch. Many comments from Frederick's contemporaries who met the king prove that his true appearance did not match his depictions in painted and engraved portraits.See the many commentaries cited in Krysmanski, "Voices from the 18th century prove it: The truth was very different", in Does Hogarth Depict Old Fritz Truthfully with a Crooked Beak? – The Pictures Familiar to Us from Pesne to Menzel Don’t Show This, pp. 10–13. For instance, in 1761, during a meeting with Frederick, Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim saw “a royal face that not a single painting depicts truthfully”.Letter of 8 January 1761 to Karl Wilhelm Ramler, cited in Gustav Berthold Volz, Friedrich der Grosse im Spiegel seiner Zeit, vol. 3 (Berlin: Verlag von Reimar Hobbing, 1901), p. 40. For the chronicler Christoph Friedrich Nicolai it was clear: “[...] no portrait is like him.”Briefe über die Kunst von und an Herrn von Hagedorn (Leipzig, 1797), p. 243, cited in Paul Seidel, "Die Bildnisse Friedrichs des Großen", Hohenzollern-Jahrbuch, 1 (1897), p. 107. Consequently, in 1897, art historian Paul Seidel complained that no clear judgment could be derived from the surviving portraits as to what Frederick the Great really looked like.Paul Seidel: "Die äußere Erscheinung Friedrichs des Großen," Hohenzollern-Jahrbuch, 1 (1897), p. 87.

The French Rococo painter Antoine Pesne (1683–1757),See Gerd Bartoschek, Antoine Pesne, 1683–1757: Ausstellung zum 300. Geburtstag (Potsdam-Sanssouci: Generaldirektion der Staatlichen Schlösser und Gärten, 1983). who worked at the Prussian court for many years and was appointed director of the Berlin Academy of Arts, chiefly depicted Frederick in his younger years, his earliest portrait being that of Frederick with his older sister, Wilhelmine, as children (c.1714–15).Hildebrand, Das Bildnis Friedrichs des Großen, pp. 91–92 and plates 5–6.See also Antoine Pesne, Frederick, Crown Prince of Prussia, as a child with his sister Wilhelmine (c.1714/15. Several times he painted the crown princeHildebrand, Das Bildnis Friedrichs des Großen, pp. 92–94, 96–98, 105–106, 107–110 and plates 7–8, 12–15, 25–26, 28–31.Portrait of Frederick, Crown Prince of Prussia, painting by Antoine Pesne, 1724.Portrait of Crown Prince Frederick, painting by Antoine Pesne, c.1736. and young kingHildebrand, Das Bildnis Friedrichs des Großen, pp. 110–115 and plates 32–35.Portrait of Frederick II of Prussia, Hermitage, painting by Antoine Pesne, c.1743.Portrait of Frederick II of Prussia, painting by Antoine Pesne, 1745. in a representational style with smooth features. With some justification, critics accused Pesne of portraying all of his royal sitters equally beautifully and lacking any sharper characterization.Hildebrand, Das Bildnis Friedrichs des Großen, p. 115.See also Paul Seidel, Friedrich der Grosse und die bildende Kunst (Leipzig and Berlin: Giesecke & Devrient, 1922), pp. 186–187. For instance, referring to Pesne’s 1740 portrait of Frederick, art historian Helmut Börsch-Supan writes that the artist “wasn't interested in a true portrayal of the character. Pesne painted Frederick the Great as he depicted beautiful women courting the admiration of their viewers. This is a feminine trait that makes it difficult to see the full personality in this portrait.”Börsch-Supan, “Friedrich der Große im zeitgenössischen Bildnis”, p. 265. Indeed, Pesne's idealized representations of Frederick do not correspond with a statement by the Austrian ambassador Friedrich Heinrich Graf von Seckendorff about the 14-year-old crown prince that he looked "old and stiff" at a young age and acted accordingly presumably because of the hardships imposed on him by his father.Paul Seidel, “Die Kinderbildnisse Friedrichs des Großen und seiner Brüder”, Hohenzollern-Jahrbuch, 15 (1911), p. 29. This means that already in his younger years, Frederick “does not seem to have been a rather handsome boy”.Krysmanski, Does Hogarth Depict Old Fritz Truthfully with a Crooked Beak? – The Pictures Familiar to Us from Pesne to Menzel Don’t Show This, p. 10. Significantly, even his father said, when the English royal family had asked him for a portrait of the crown prince, that they should have a large monkey painted because that was Frederick's likeness.Johannes Kunisch, Friedrich der Große: Der König und seine Zeit (Munich: C. H. Beck, 2004), p. 27.

Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff seems to have invented a pictorial formula that depicted the crown prince in profile with a classically straightened nose,"When reproducing Frederick’s nose, most of the artists seem to have oriented themselves to the classical Greek ideal of beauty. This becomes particularly clear in pure profile views, for example in a pastel by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff." See Krysmanski, "The classic straight nose in portraits", in Does Hogarth Depict Old Fritz Truthfully with a Crooked Beak? – The Pictures Familiar to Us from Pesne to Menzel Don’t Show This, pp. 16–17.Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff, Crown Prince Frederick in profile (1737). which must have had an immense influence on countless later profile portraits of the king that were widely distributed through prints.See Krysmanski, Does Hogarth Depict Old Fritz Truthfully with a Crooked Beak? – The Pictures Familiar to Us from Pesne to Menzel Don’t Show This, p. 17, referring to an overview page of graphic portraits of Frederick in Edwin von Campe, Die graphischen Porträts Friedrichs des Großen aus seiner Zeit und ihre Vorbilder (Munich: Bruckmann, 1958), p. 94. According to Börsch-Supan, the receding forehead, whose contour in side view is a straight continuation of the bridge of the nose, gives the face something bold and sharp, but is in strange contradiction to the full, somewhat drooping lower face and the beginnings of a double chin.Börsch-Supan, “Friedrich der Große im zeitgenössischen Bildnis”, p. 262 and fig. 5.