3-085-236 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Portrait of Marie Sophie Friedericke von Holzhausen, c1758. Around 1758 Johann Maximilian von Holzhausen commissioned the artist Johann Georg Ziesenis, one of the most sought-after portraitists of aristocratic society, to paint likenesses of his children. With regard to her clothing, jewellery, hair dyed grey and erect posture, the portrait of his twelve-year-old daughter Marie Sophie von Holzhausen corresponds to that of an adult noblewoman. She is sitting in an armchair in a magnificent blue dress with a corsage and white lace trimming on the sleeves and neckline, while her dog performs a trick. Although she looks grown up and stiff, childlike features are evident in her delicately modelled face.