Portrait of Francisca Caroline de Braganca 1844

Franz Xaver Winterhalter painted "Portrait of Francisca Caroline de Braganca" in oil on canvas sometime in the mid-19th century. As a portraitist, Winterhalter was highly sought after by European royalty, who were eager to use paintings such as this as a means of consolidating their status. The image speaks to the idea of ​​the sitter as an individual, while also communicating her noble status through conventions of pose and dress. Consider how the dark and stormy sky contributes to the romantic sensibility of the image, and the effect of the sitter's gaze. What does it mean that this painting hangs in Versailles? The museum plays an active role in the construction of cultural memory, displaying objects like this to tell particular stories about the past. In the end, works of art are always embedded in social and institutional contexts, the recovery of which requires careful historical research.