Portrait of Lola Montez is an oil on canvas portrait painting by the German artist Joseph Karl Stieler, from 1847. It is held at the Gallery of Beauties at Ludwig's Nymphenburg Palace, in Munich.Comini p.46
History and description It depicts the Irish dancer and courtesan Lola MontezVon Hase-Schmundt p.25, at the time when she was mistress of Ludwig I of Bavaria.Seymour p.182 Montez, the estranged wife of a British army officer, who adopted a Spanish artistic name, performed on stage across Europe before meeting Ludwig and settling in Bavaria.Marwick p.128 His extravagance towards her was one of the factors behind his overthrow in the 1848 Revolution.
Stieler had been the court painter to the Bavarian monarchs since 1820 and in 1826 had painted a portrait of Ludwig in his coronation robes. His painting of Montez was placed in the Gallery of Beauties at Nymphenburg Palace.Comini p.46
References
Bibliography Comini, Alessandra. The Changing Image of Beethoven: A Study in Mythmaking. Sunstone Press, 2008. Marwick, Arthur. A History of Human Beauty. A&C Black, 2007. Seymour, Bruce. Lola Montez: A Life. Yale University Press, 1996. Weidner, Thomas. Lola Montez oder eine Revolution in München. Münchner Stadtmuseum, 1998. Von Hase-Schmundt, Ulrike. Joseph Stieler, 1781–1858: Sein Leben u. sein Werk. Krit. Verzeichnis d. Werke. Prestel, 1971.