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The Kaunitz Sisters (Leopoldine, Caroline, and Ferdinandine)

1818
Not on view
In this rare group portrait, Ingres presents the three daughters of Austria’s ambassador to Rome, Prince Wenzel von Kaunitz-Rietberg. The young women, portrayed at ages thirteen to seventeen, cluster gracefully around the piano. The setting is likely the family music room, where the Kaunitzes often hosted private concerts. Indeed, it may have been Ingres’s passion for music that first won him an invitation to the Kaunitz residence. In this drawing, the artist—already at the height of his powers as a graphic portraitist—delicately described the sisters’ faces, framed in curls and lacy collars. Such details evoke the discreet luxury of Empire fashion and the privileged, cultured world to which these sisters belonged.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Kaunitz Sisters (Leopoldine, Caroline, and Ferdinandine)
  • Artist: Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (French, Montauban 1780–1867 Paris)
  • Patron: Prince Wenzel von Kaunitz-Rietberg (Austrian Ambassador to Rome 1818)
  • Date: 1818
  • Medium: Graphite
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 11 7/8 × 8 3/4 in. (30.2 × 22.2 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, in honor of Philippe de Montebello, 1998
  • Object Number: 1998.21
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

More Artwork
Joséphine-Éléonore-Marie-Pauline de Galard de Brassac de Béarn (1825–1860), Princesse de Broglie, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres French, Oil on canvas
Joséphine-Éléonore-Marie-Pauline de Galard de Brassac de Béarn (1825–1860), Princesse de Broglie
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
1851–53
Madame Félix Gallois, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres French, Graphite with touches of gold in oil to highlight jewelry, on buff wove paper.
Madame Félix Gallois
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
1852
Joseph-Antoine Moltedo (born 1775), Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres French, Oil on canvas
Joseph-Antoine Moltedo (born 1775)
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
ca. 1810
Study of Eleven Heads, Jacques de Gheyn II Netherlandish, Pen and three shades of brown ink with black chalk on laid paper; framing lines in pen and brown ink and graphite
Study of Eleven Heads
Jacques de Gheyn II
late 16th–early 17th century
Eastern Coast of Rügen with Shepherd, Caspar David Friedrich German, Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, over graphite, with white opaque watercolor; partial framing lines in pen and brown-black ink
Eastern Coast of Rügen with Shepherd
Caspar David Friedrich
1805–6

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