Prince Klemens Wenzel Lothar von Metternich (1773–1859)

Lieder was born in Potsdam. After making his debut at the Berlin Academy he studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and became a pupil of Jacques Louis David. From about 1810 he worked in Vienna and was a protégé of Metternich, who sent him to Paris to learn lithography. In 1816 Lieder became a painter to the Prussian king Frederick William III (1770–1840) in Berlin. He exhibited at the Vienna Academy from 1822 until 1830, becoming a member in 1824 and later a counselor. He died in Budapest.

A related engraving in reverse is lettered Metternich F. Lieder gez. Hugel[?] und F. Ströber gest. in Stahl Wien 1839. Nach dem Leben gezeichnet (Metternich drawn by F. Lieder engraved in steel by Hugel[?] and F. Strober Vienna 1839. Drawn from life). Lieder himself made a lithograph in reverse, but with the badge on the left shoulder, which is contemporaneous with, but independent of, this miniature. The Met’s portrait and the related engravings give testimony to the strength of the relationship between Metternich and Lieder.

Metternich, Austrian foreign minister, ambassador, and chancellor, was among the greatest statesmen of the nineteenth century. At the Congress of Vienna in 1815 he secured a leading role in Europe for the Habsburg empire of Franz II (1768–1835). He fell from power during the constitutional revolutions of 1848. Here he wears the ribbon and badge of the Order of the Golden Fleece, the ribbon and badge of the Order of Saint Stephen, and the ribbon and badge of the Civilian Cross of Honor of 1813–14.

The miniature is in a folding case of blind-tooled green leather. The case was originally stiffened with a metal plate.

[2016; adapted from Reynolds and Baetjer 1996]

Inscription: Signed and dated (right, in black): Fr: Lieder. / pinxit 1822.

Ernest H. Marso, New York (until 1941; sold to The Met)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Four Centuries of Miniature Painting," January 19–March 19, 1950, unnumbered cat. (p. 10).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "European Miniatures in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 5, 1996–January 5, 1997, no. 210.

Graham Reynolds with the assistance of Katharine Baetjer. European Miniatures in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1996, pp. 12, 14, 166, 168, no. 210, colorpl. 210 and ill. p. 167.