The 37 Beauties of Schloss Nymphenburg (Nymphenburg Palace)

From 1827 to 1850, court painter Joseph Karl Stieler (1781-1858) was commissioned by the crown prince and later the king to paint portraits of young, attractive women - aristocrats and commoners, princesses and dancers, farmers' daughters and princesses, English ladies and Greek beauties. Some of them were art lovers, collectors, aesthetes and womanisers Ludwig I. (see also our blog post) only laid eyes on some of them briefly, while he was even related to others. He had secret flings with some of them and very public affairs with other ladies such as Lola Montez. Nevertheless, the gallery is not just a display of "trophies". Celebrating female beauty in a picture gallery was very much in keeping with the style of the time. The "Windsor Beauties", a series of court ladies, hang in Hampton Court today, Tsarina Elisabeth I of Russia had hundreds of portraits of women painted by her court painter Rotari, Electress Henriette of Bavaria and Max Emmanuel also had their own collections.

All 37 women depicted were rewarded by Ludwig I for modelling - he took over their dowries, paid them an allowance or provided them with a job at court. He remained in lively correspondence with some of them for years, while others only crossed his path briefly.

Ludwig's Gallery of Beauties was originally located in the ballroom of the Munich Residence and was open to the public from the very beginning. It was only after 1945 that the paintings were moved to the southern wing of Schloss Nymphenburg Palace. The room at the end of a long corridor near the Queen's flats is part of the tour. Here the portraits hang in their lavish golden frames in groups of six, randomly arranged and rearranged again and again. Some, such as Helene Sedlmayr or Lola Montez, have long been famous. Others are less well known. The youngest was just 15, the oldest in her early 30's. Even mother and daughter are included. Their stories interest us today much more than their appearance and virtue, which were the most important things back then. Who were they? Where did they come from? We would therefore like to introduce you to 15 of these very different women.

Alexandra is the youngest daughter and seventh child of Ludwig I and his wife Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. She was born in 1826, remained unmarried throughout her life and lived alternately in the Munich Residence, in Berchtesgaden, at Schloss Leopoldskron, at Villa Ludwigshöhe near Edenkoben (Palatinate) and in Aschaffenburg. The fact that she was considered the king's favourite daughter did not help her. Socially unsuitable suitors of the princess were firmly rejected by her parents and kept at a distance. A suitable candidate was not found.
She shared her father's enthusiasm for literature and the sciences. In later years, at the king's request, the princess became head mistress and abbess of the royal ladies' convents of St Anne in Munich and Würzburg. She was also a benefactress of Aschaffenburg, where she was born at Schloss Johannisburg (Johannisburg Castle). After the death of Ludwig I, she inherited his natural history collection.

Born Princess of Prussia, she married the Bavarian Crown Prince Maximilian in 1843. Her father-in-law, Ludwig I, nevertheless agreed with his son's choice. He described Marie as "...very pretty, extremely lovely...". Although the crown princess belonged to the Protestant faith, she was also popular with the Catholic population.
Marie loved the mountains, which she had got to know on her honeymoon. In order to be able to hike in her free time, she had a costume made from the finest loden, spent a lot of time in the Bavarian and Tyrolean Alps and even wanted to be the first woman to climb the Zugspitze. On 25 August 1845, she gave birth to the future King Ludwig II in the Green Salon of Schloss Nymphenburg (Nymphenburg Palace) - and three years later to his brother Otto. In 1848, after the abdication of Ludwig I, she became Queen of Bavaria. When her husband Maximilian II died unexpectedly, Marie was just 39. As Ludwig was unmarried, she remained the highest-ranking lady in Bavaria as Queen Mother, but appeared less frequently in public.

Not much is known about her secret relationship with Ludwig I: Caroline was born in Aschaffenburg in 1824, where she met him for the first time at the age of 16. A short time later, the girl moved to Munich, where her life was financed by the king. Her father and brother also made careers during this time. The king had Caroline painted by Stieler as early as 1841. There are also two portraits of her - a youthful one and this later one in dark velvet.
In 1849, Caroline married a legation councillor and became the mother of a son, who was presumably the king's son. Lola Montez and Caroline Lizius knew each other, but did not like each other. Ludwig had promised Lola that he would only receive Caroline in her presence.

Lola is the most famous and contradictory personality in the beauty gallery. Novels have been written and films made about the "femme fatale", and there is even said to be a heavy metal song about her... Elizabeth Rosanna Gilbert was probably born in 1821, the daughter of an English officer and a milliner. As a child, she moved to Calcutta with her family. But shortly after arriving, her father died of cholera and Lola was brought up by her stepfather and step-uncle in Scotland.

She married an English officer and followed him back to India. The marriage failed and Lola returned to Europe. She travelled to Spain and later toured Paris, Warsaw, St. Petersburg, Berlin, Dresden, Vienna and Venice as a supposed "Spanish dancer". Tumult and scandal were inevitable, no matter where she performed.

On 5 October 1846, she came to Munich and applied for an engagement as a dancer at the Munich Court Theatre. Shortly afterwards, she met Ludwig I at an audience and, at his insistence, gave a guest performance at the Munich Court and National Theatre. The king was immediately smitten by her and began a passionate affair with her. Her portrait, which can be seen today in Schloss Nymphenburg Palace, also dates from this time: "Stieler - the Countess Landsfeld is an honourable woman! Paint her in black velvet," was the king's instruction.

The king gave Lola a palace in Munich at Barer Straße 7, where he often visited her. She also received Bavarian citizenship and was elevated to Countess of Landsfeld, which was received very critically in society. The king's mistress was increasingly unpopular with the people of Munich. The growing discontent led to student unrest and resulted in the closure of the university. The uproar in the city forced the king to expel his mistress from the country in 1848 and to abdicate himself shortly afterwards. Lola's painting disappeared into storage for decades and was only allowed to be hung up again after the end of the monarchy.

Banished from Munich, the dancer moved to Paris, where she wanted to relaunch her programme. She later travelled to the USA, performing on Broadway, on the East Coast and in San Francisco. In 1855, she travelled on to Australia, where she entertained gold diggers with her performances. After her return to New York, she struggled with health problems and died there on 17 January 1861. She was buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.

She was born in Munich in 1806 and came from a bourgeois family with Italian roots. The king wished to visit "Miss Borzaga, the daughter of the pawnshop manager, the most beautiful of Munich's beauties" at her home, but her father sought to prevent this, as he was concerned about protecting his daughter's reputation. The family only accepted her inclusion in the king's gallery of beauties on condition that she always had a companion present at the painting sessions. Shortly after completing the portrait, Maximiliane married a doctor from Munich and had two children with him. She died of a lung disease at the age of 31.

She was born in Munich in 1812, the daughter of a respected Jewish court agent. When she was portrayed by Joseph Stieler, she was about 17 years old. In 1834, she married the banker Salomon Joseph Heyne, the nephew of a "Rothschild of Hamburg", and lived with him in Munich. Her husband's distant relatives included the poet Heinrich Heine. After her husband's death, Nanette lived in the capital for another 13 years, where she died at the age of 64. She was described as pretty, witty and amiable.

Her biography is one of the most colourful: born in 1809 as the daughter of a British admiral, she married the much older politician Edward Law Earl of Elleborough at the age of 16. After the birth of her first son, she divorced him and moved to Paris, where she lived with the Austrian diplomat Felix zu Schwarzenberg.
After the separation, Jane Digby went to Munich, where she met King Ludwig I at the "Goldener Hirsch" in Theatinerstrasse and had an intense relationship with him. Within the first few weeks, Ludwig had Joseph Stieler paint Jane for his collection.
It was also in Munich that she met her third husband, Karl Theodor von Venningen-Ullner, with whom she also had two children. She left him too, as well as her children, and moved to Paris. She married again, this time to a Greek count, and had her sixth child. The family lived happily for several years on the islands of Tinos and Corfu. During a trip to Italy, however, the six-year-old son Leonidas had a terrible accident while playing and died. A short time later, the parents' marriage also broke up.
Lady Jane's last great adventure takes place in Syria, where she met the son of a sheikh. He became the Englishwoman's fourth and last husband. She was committed to popularising the culture of the Orient, for example by assisting Richard Burton with the translation of "One Thousand and One Nights", and died in Damascus at the age of 74.

She was born in 1819 as the daughter of Markos Botzaris, a Greek freedom fighter who fell in battle against the Turks. Her brother, Demetrios, was educated in Munich and became a wing adjutant and Minister of War to King Otto of Greece. The Greek costume, which the young Greek woman almost always wore, became her trademark and attracted great attention everywhere she went, especially when travelling through Germany.
King Ludwig I saw Katharina for the first time during Queen Amalia's visit to Munich and was immediately smitten by her. A few days later, the Greek modelled for her. She returned to Athens shortly afterwards.

She was the only one of the women who led a self-determined life from her birth in 1825 until her death and was always employed. She came from a modest background, but was able to rise into higher civil service circles. Josepha was born the illegitimate daughter of a lord's servant and a baker's daughter and was later legitimised by her parents' marriage. At the age of 15, she married a widower who was almost three times her age and who died three years later. The young widow then opened a boutique in Briennerstrasse. She was also accepted into the gallery at this time. It is not known how she met Ludwig I. The monarch supported her career and gave her a position at court as royal linen mistress, responsible for table linen at court. She fulfilled this role for over 20 years, even after her second marriage to a lawyer. Josepha died in Munich at the age of 56.

The merchant's daughter, born in 1809, stood up to her father and took acting lessons. Charlotte was just 17 years old when she made her debut at the Munich Court Theatre to great acclaim. She was immediately engaged and celebrated as an actress far beyond Munich. She made guest appearances in Vienna, Dresden, Berlin and Budapest.
In the year of her debut, the young actress met King Ludwig I and, it was rumoured in Munich, began an affair with him. A short time later, she was portrayed. Against the king's wishes, she went to the court theatre in Berlin in 1833. At the height of her career, she left the stage, married a rich Rhinelander and moved back to Munich. At a meeting between Charlotte and Ludwig, the king described his impressions with little gallantry: "The day before yesterday I met Mrs Oven, called the beautiful Charlotte von Hagn...I was surprised to see her so ugly and old."
Three years later, she separated from her husband and lived in Munich in the company of writers, artists and musicians, including Paul Heyse, Friedrich von Bodenstedt, Franz Liszt and even King Maximilian II of Bavaria. She suffered two strokes, from which she recovered almost completely and lived to the age of 82.

Her biography could almost serve as the basis for a romance novel. She was born in 1806 as the daughter of a French vineyard owner. Her father had fled to the Swabian Alb before the French Revolution and worked as a court gardener for the Oettingen-Oettingen family. The eldest son of the house, Ludwig, fell in love with Crescentia, who was 15 years his junior, and married her against his family's wishes. As a result, Ludwig had to renounce his birthright, offices and part of his income. The couple initially lived in the former Heilig Kreuz monastery castle in Donauwörth. Faced with financial difficulties, they bought a small country castle in Reimlingen.
Thanks to the prince's old friendship with King Ludwig I, their financial situation improved considerably after a short time. Ludwig Oettingen-Wallerstein regained his crown office, moved to Munich with his family and became the King's Minister of the Interior. During this time, the king met the young princess and found her both beautiful and likeable. Her eldest daughter Caroline was later also included in the Gallery of Beauties.

About ten years after her mother, the 18-year-old was also painted. Shortly afterwards, she married a sole heir to the Rhenish nobility. The couple, who were considered "the most beautiful couple in the royal seat", enjoyed life to the full. They acquired several estates, including a palace on Karolinenplatz in Munich, where they celebrated lavish parties with many guests. The family, which included their first-born son Friedrich Ludwig, enjoyed travelling and visiting elegant spas and the most beautiful cities in Europe.
This lavish lifestyle led to many debts and ultimately almost to the loss of the entire estate. All the palaces and villas had to be sold, even the furniture and jewellery went under the hammer. The couple fled to Lucerne to escape the 900 or so creditors. Caroline's father, who was even imprisoned in Germany for a short time due to the couple's debts, also fled to Switzerland. The family only returned to Munich many years later, and Caroline lived in seclusion until her death at the age of 65.

The king is said to have met her at a civic ball and immediately approached her. She was one of the first to be painted for the king's collection. Joseph Stieler produced two different versions of the portrait. In the first attempt, the king did not approve of the model's exaggeratedly long neck. The second painting, with the orange-coloured bows in the hair, was entirely to his liking.

After a long engagement, Auguste married a forester who was supported by the king in his professional career. The couple had five children and lived in Ergoldsbach, Zwiesel and Passau, among other places, where Auguste died at the age of 56.

Joseph Stieler's last painting for the Schönheitengalerie was created in 1850. The artist died eight years later in Munich. Maria was born in Munich on 19 July 1835, the daughter of a tailor. After the early death of her father, she continued his work as a seamstress. At the age of 30, she married an editor of the "Augsburger Abendzeitung" newspaper and moved to Augsburg. She died young of lung cancer.

The daughter of a Schumacher was born in 1813 in Chiemgau, in Trostberg near Traunstein. Her father died young and the family was too poor to send Helene to school. So she first worked for her uncle in Altötting and then as a servant in a general shop in Briennerstraße in Munich.

According to the story, Ludwig I saw Helene for the first time in the Residenz when she was delivering toys for the princes and princesses. However, she was probably discovered by the painter Joseph Stieler and suggested to the king as a model. Ludwig agreed immediately and also visited the painter's studio during the painting sessions. Helene also told him that she had no chance of marriage without a dowry. Ludwig promised quick help and offered 1000 guilders for a marriage to the "right man". Four years later, Helene married the royal court lackey Hermes Miller in the Frauenkirche in Munich, and the promised money was paid out "as a dowry". The husband served three generations of kings during his lifetime - Ludwig I, his son Maximilian II and his grandson Ludwig II.

Several members of the royal family were godparents to the ten children. The descendants of the "beautiful Munich lady" still live in Munich, Albstadt and Berchtesgaden today. In her native town of Trostberg, visitors can view the Helene Sedlmayr Room in the Stadtmuseum or even get married there.

Ania Hillenbrand & Nathalie Schwaiger