Portrait of Heinrich von Brühl
Portrait of Heinrich von Brühl (1700 – 1763) c1750 by French Engraver Jean-Joseph Balechou (1715 – 1764), after a painting by French Painter Louis de Silvestre (1675 – 1760) the court painter to King Augustus II (1670 – 1733) of Poland, and director of the Royal Academy of Arts in Dresden.
This is a portrait engraving that is derived from a painting by Louis de Silvestre. It shows Heinrich von Brühl (1700 – 1763) in either his office or study in elaborate dressed standing by a desk that has his helmet on it and letters in his left hand.
Behind him to his right is a large plush chair, and in the distance we can see two massive circular columns from which a very large drape is hanging, as well as a library of books on a large book case.
Heinrich was a Polish-Sazon statesman at the court of Saxony and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, as well as a member of the powerful German von Brühl family.
He was a highly skilled diplomat and strategist, that through his manipulations was able to gain control over Saxony and Poland, by partly controlling the king Augustus III (1696 – 1763); who could only be accessed through Brühl.
The amazing detail of this pieces points to Balechou great skill as an engraver as the artwork looks like a painting all its own.
This is a retouched digital art old masters reproduction of a public domain image.
Info Above Derived From Wikipedia.org
