Hans Makart
Amalie Makart, née Roithmayr (1846 Munich – 1873 Munich). The Artist’s First Wife, ∞ 7.11.1868

c 1871
Residenzgalerie Salzburg, 1

With his opulent “Makart style”, Hans Makart left his mark on an entire epoch. In 1869, Emperor Franz Joseph I appointed him to Vienna, where he was given a studio and an apartment at the expense of the state.
The portrait of his first wife, Amalie, painted around 1870/71, is one of a small series of the artist’s private portraits in which he skilfully conveyed character and vivid expressive force. Amalie’s face is painted with a fine brush, in carefully glazed flesh tones, whereas the dress and hat are more roughly sketched. Amalie died some two years after the portrait was completed.