(Haina 1751–1829 Eutin)
Portrait of Dorothea, Duchess of Württemberg, née Margravine of Brandenburg-Schwedt (1736–1797),
inscribed on the back: J. H. Tischbein,
pastel on canvas, 58 x 52 cm, framed

Helmut Börsch-Supan confirmed the present painting as an authentic work by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, the so-called ‘Goethe-Tischbein’ (written certificate of 29 June 2020).

The old attribution to Johann Heinrich the Elder, the so-called ‘Tischbein of Kassel’, is incorrect, for the latter only very rarely used the pastel technique, and he had no connections to Prussia or Württemberg.

Börsch-Supan writes about the sitter: ‘Princess Dorothea von Brandenburg-Schwedt was the eldest daughter of Margrave Frederick William (1700–1771) and his wife, Sophie Dorothea Marie (1719–1769), a daughter of King Frederick William I of Prussia. In 1753 she became the Protestant wife of the Roman Catholic Duke Eugene of Württemberg (1732–1797), who had been raised at the court of Frederick the Great and served in the Prussian military.’ She was the mother of the first king of Württemberg.

A second version of this portrait was once in the collection of the Counts of Wintzingerode at Bodenstein, Eichsfeld. Count George Ernest Levin of Wintzingerode (1752–1834) was a high-ranking court official and companion of Landgravine Philippine of Hesse-Kassel (1745–1800), who was the sister of the present sitter, the Duchess Dorothea of Württemberg.