Portret van Maria Elisabeth Adolphine Waller-Schill 1866

Louis Chantal rendered this portrait of Maria Elisabeth Adolphine Waller-Schill in the 19th century. It reflects the conventions of bourgeois portraiture at the time. The setting is interesting. Waller-Schill is seated formally against an idealized landscape, complete with distant castles and what seems to be a carefully placed hat on her lap. How might this composition speak to contemporary ideas about the sitter's social position, aspirations, or sense of self? Painted during a time of significant social change, we might ask whether Waller-Schill, through the visual cues of the portrait, asserts a conservative stance or signals a more progressive identity. To understand this image more fully, we need to look into the sitter's life and social milieu. What was her family's status? What were the prevailing social and political currents in her community?