Lola Montez

Joseph Karl Stieler's portrait of Lola Montez of 1847 is one of the most celebrated images to come out of the famous Gallery of Beauties assembled by King Ludwig I of Bavaria — a collection of thirty-six portraits of women considered remarkable for their beauty, regardless of social rank, that Ludwig commissioned across several decades. Lola Montez was an Irish-born dancer who performed under a Spanish stage name and who became Ludwig's mistress with extraordinary political consequences: her influence over the king contributed to his forced abdication in 1848 during the revolutionary upheaval that swept across Europe. Stieler's portrait, painted the year before the abdication, captures her at the apex of her notoriety. The Nymphenburg Palace still houses the Gallery of Beauties, and this picture remains its most famous and scandalous member.

Stieler employs the format standard to the Gallery of Beauties: a three-quarter length portrait against a plain background, the sitter in relatively informal dress that emphasizes personal beauty over social rank or costume. Montez's dark eyes and luminous complexion are rendered with flattering precision. The handling is smooth and polished in the accomplished academic manner Stieler maintained throughout his career.