THE BALTIC PORTRAIT AND STILL LIFE PAINTER ALEXANDRA VON BERCKHOLTZ (1821–1899)

Abstract

The Baltic artist Alexandra von Berckholtz was among the most
important portrait painters of her time. However, her works had
disappeared from art-historical memory because, after her death, they
were sold and spread all over the world. An international research
project started in 2014 was able to rediscover her works and her life
story.
Von Berckholtz was given her first art lessons in 1841 by the court
painter Louis Wagner in Karlsruhe, Germany. From 1847 until 1854
she studied in Paris at the studio of the history painter Joseph-Nicolas
Robert-Fleury, who had considerable influence on her pictorial
style which combined realism and idealism. Another significant
influence was Richard Lauchert, a former student and close friend
of Franz Xaver Winterhalter. Von Berckholtz’s numerous travels,
e.g. to Switzerland, France, and the Czech Republic, were also a
rich source of inspiration. She changed the conventions of nobility
portrait and concentrated on still lifes in her later work, in which
she reflected the Dutch style of the Baroque period. Alexandra von
Berckholtz associated with important personalities from the fields
of art, music, politics, and technology, and was socially active.