An Italian beauty
The chess players

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 Honor[1] 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 lady1832Private collection
Portrait of the art dealer Dominik Artaria183676.5 x 60.5 cmUnknown
Bust portrait of a Viennese middle-class woman183676.5 x 60.5 cmVienna, Belvedere
Equestrian portrait of Sultan Mahmud II1837Private collection
Portrait of a woman1838
Portrait of Sultan Mahmud II1839Private collection
Portrait of the writer Louis Lurine1844
Blind man's buff1844Private collection
Young women singing and playing the lute1844Private collection
Young peasant couple184542.9 x 33 cmPrivate collection
A harem interior184674 x 93 cmPrivate collection
A dreamy look1852Private collection
Courtly scene with a maid1859Private collection
Two curious girls on the stairs before a Mediterranean landscape1860 circa112 x 87 cmPrivate collection
The stolen child1861
Touch; the five senses1865 circa115.5 x 89.5 cmExhibited at the 1865 salon, and acquired by Napoleon IIIPrivate collection
Taste; the five senses1865 circa115.5 x 89.5 cmExhibited at the 1865 salon, and acquired by Napoleon IIIPrivate collection
Hearing; the five senses1865 circa115.5 x 89.5 cmExhibited at the 1865 salon, and acquired by Napoleon IIIPrivate collection
Smell; the five senses1865 circa115.5 x 89.5 cmExhibited at the 1865 salon, and acquired by Napoleon IIIPrivate collection
Sight; the five senses1865 circa115.5 x 89.5 cmExhibited at the 1865 salon, and acquired by Napoleon IIIPrivate collection
Lost in thought186873 x 59.7 cmPrivate collection
Alone at the atelier1868125.7 x 108 cm

Philadelphia, Museum of Art

An Egyptian girl preparing for the bath186990 x 117.5 cmPrivate collection
An Italian maiden187051 x 35 cmPrivate collection
An Italian beauty187072.5 x 60 cmEven 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 lovebirds1876Harrogate, Mercer Art Gallery
A beautiful frame1879 circa
The reprimand1879Private collection
The young artist1884Private collection
Girl with a mandolin1887107 x 63.5 cmPrivate collection
Girl with dead bird189086 x 74 cmVienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum
Fair in the Pyrenees31.2 x 42.7 cmUnited Kingdom, Royal Collection
Young dancer with tambourinePrivate collection
Chess playersPrivate collection
A ridePrivate collection
Turkish Woman and ChiboukPrivate collection
Welcome change49 x 66 cmThe painting is only attributedPrivate 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, ISBN 3-598-22749-3, pg. 8
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