Dreams Less Sweet Antiques

Description

Oil Painting by August Von Der Embde 1817 of a Prussian Hussar Officer with Pour le Mérite Medal.

Portrait of a young Prussian Hussar officer with a fur collar and the Pour le Mérite medal by August von der Embde (also known as August Emden, 1780-1862).

Oil on canvas, framed.

Stylish & attractive military portrait of a dashing & characterful young officer.

Signed and dated lower right: Aug. Embden 1817. 

Good condition for age. Craquelure present typical of the period.

45.8 x 37.4cm (Frame: 51 x 42.5cm).

August von der Embde was born the son of a master carpenter and studied at the Kassel Academy from 1799 to 1804. Study trips took him to Dresden, Munich and Vienna, where he found new inspiration through contacts with the Füger School and Josef Abel. 

After the end of the Napoleonic Wars, he returned to Kassel and worked there, among other things, with Ludwig Hummel on the electoral ancestral gallery, for which numerous portraits were created. This resulted in good contacts with the Hessian court and rural nobility, which brought him several high-profile portrait commissions. At the same time, the family of his wife Sophie-Charlotte, the Henschel family of sculptors and manufacturers, introduced him to the art and literature circles of the upper middle-class, including the educated circle around the Brothers Grimm (Gebrüder Grimm), of whom he also painted a number of portraits. 

The young officer depicted here was a recipient of the Prussian Pour le Mérite order, which was only awarded for the greatest bravery. The Pour le Mérite is an order of merit established in 1740 by King Frederick II of Prussia, that was awarded strictly as a recognition of extraordinary personal achievement. It was named in French, which was the leading international language and the favoured language at Frederick's court.