Hermann Fidel Winterhalter (September 23, 1808 – February 24, 1891) was a German painter, younger brother of the portrait painter Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1806-73).

Life

Hermann Fidel Winterhalter was born in the small village of Menzenschwand (now part of St. Blasien

St. Blasien

St. Blasien is a town in the Waldshut district in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated in the southern Black Forest, 17 km northeast of Waldshut-Tiengen. St. Blaise's Abbey in the Black Forest is located in St. Blasien. The town is twinned with Saint-Blaise in Switzerland. There is also...

) in the Black Forest

Black Forest

The Black Forest is a wooded mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It is bordered by the Rhine valley to the west and south. The highest peak is the Feldberg with an elevation of 1,493 metres ....

, Grand-Duchy of Baden

Baden

Baden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....

. His father, Fidel Winterhalter, made him follow a career as a painter in the footsteps of his older brother. Hermann Winterhalter was first trained as a lithographer and later went to study painting in Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

 and Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

. He settled in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 where he assisted his brother and exhibited at the Salon 1838-41, 1847 and 1869.

So close was Hermann Winterhalter to his bother that not only his work but also his personality is hard to disassociate from his most famous sibling. There was no professional rivalry or personal friction in the many years they worked together. Hermann was an immense support to Franz Xaver's successful international career, and took charge of the latter's studio in Paris while he was abroad. He lived independently and had his own personality and points of view. In the 1850s Hermann was more independent and developed a small portrait practice of his own. Among his works are Young Girl from Ariccia

Ariccia

Ariccia is a town and comune in the Province of Rome, central Italy. It is in the Alban Hills of the Lazio region and could be considered an extension of Rome's southeastern suburbs...

and the portrait of his Parisian patron Nicolas-Louis Planat de la Faye that is in the Louvre

Louvre

The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...

.

After the fall of the Second Empire

Second French Empire

The Second French Empire or French Empire was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France.-Rule of Napoleon III:...

, both brothers decided to retire in Baden. Franz Xavier died in 1873; Hermann outlived him for almost twenty years, dying in Karlsruhe

Karlsruhe

The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...

on 24 February 1891.