Further Media
These two portrait miniatures were executed by the Dresden-based painter Carl Franz Edlinger (1785/8-1823) in 1817 and 1818, if the notes on the reverse can be trusted. Edlinger was trained in drawing by Cajetan Toscani and in painting by Traugott Leberecht Pochmann, both at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts. From 1812 he worked as a drawing teacher himself, first at the Katholische Schule in Dresden and from 1817 at the Academy of Fine Arts. During this time he increasingly made a name for himself as a portrait and miniature painter. Although the likes of E.T.A. Hoffmann appreciated his paintings, they are still largely unexplored.
The present portrait medallions, preserved in their original velvet-lined leather case, give a representative impression of the artist’s œuvre. Unfortunately, their names have not been recorded, although the initials on the reverse suggest that they are portraits of the artist and his wife. They illustrate the taste of the Biedermeier period, which emphasised bourgeois conservative ideals.
A watercolour preserved at the Kupferstich-Kabinett, probably showing the couple’s son, exemplifies the type of drawing that preceded the painting of the corresponding miniatures. On an ivory support of only about seven centimetres in height, Edlinger then succeeded, thanks to his technical skill, in conveying the sitter’s character.
Text: Alexander Röstel