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Attributed to Ludwig Doell (1789-1863)

Augustus, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenberg (1772-1822) c. 1822

Oil on canvas | 98.0 x 75.5 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 406366

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  • Emil Leopold August, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1772–1822), was the second son of Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Meiningen. He was the author of a poetic novel, Cyllenion: A year in Arcadia, which is thought to include the first unprejudiced treatment of the theme of homosexual love since antiquity. He was the maternal grandfather of Prince Albert. 

    This is a copy of a portrait by Josef Grassi in the castle museum at Schloss Friedenstein (SG 130: see also RCIN 609789-90). This portrait was dedicated in 1813 by the Duke to his friend and teacher, the scholar and director of the ducal collections, Christian Friedrich Wilhelm Jacobs. An inscription to the Muses on the back of this canvas was also copied from Grassi's original: Was ich den Müsen vertrau, was sie mir lieblich eminedern, / Freun es verhallet zu leicht, fasft es dein Griffel nicht auf ('What I trust to the Muses, what they lovely [?] to me, happy it decays too easily, your stylus does not grasp').

    The Duke is shown half-length, seated at a table; facing half to the left, gazing upwards; his right arm rests on a red document wallet on the table next to an inkwell while his left hand gestures elegantly; he is wearing a dark blue jacket, yellow waistcoat and white stock.

    Signed and dated, on the back of the chair at the right. L. Döll pinxit 1822
    Provenance

    Bequeathed to Prince Albert by his step grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg in 1848; recorded in Visitors' Waiting Room (Room no 244) at Windsor Castle in 1878

  • Medium and techniques

    Oil on canvas

    Measurements

    98.0 x 75.5 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)

    122.2 x 100.2 x 10.2 cm (frame, external)


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