Joseph Friedrich Darbes (Zugeschrieben)

In the painted oval portrait we see a boy of about ten years of age. He is wearing a purple coat that seems a little too big, almost as if he has yet to grow into it. His gaze is a mixture of melancholy and self-confidence, perhaps even defiance. He depicts Stanislaus, the young Count von Dönhoff, who died in 1816 in a duel with Count Friedrich von Saldern in Göttingen, where he was studying. He was the heir to Dönhoffstädt Castle near Rautenberg, one of the largest and most splendid residences in East Prussia. According to the enclosed expert opinion by Prof. Dr Börsch Supan, there was no painter in East Prussia around 1805 who could have produced such a high-quality portrait; the artist should rather be sought in Berlin. The most likely candidate was Joseph Friedrich August Darbes, who was based in Berlin from 1785 and quickly became a sought-after portraitist of the Prussian court and high nobility. The publisher Friedrich Nicolai praised him as early as 1786: "He is an excellently skilful painter. His paintings in oil have a truth that goes as far as deception". The sculptor Johann Gottfried Schadow also commented on the artist's special technique: "He used a pane of glass to create his portraits and achieved a likeness that met with approval". According to Börsch-Supan, the attribution to Darbes is corroborated by his preference for the oval picture format and the conspicuous avoidance of the depiction of hands in the half-length figure. With an expertise by Prof. Dr Helmut Börsch-Supan, Berlin, dated 21 August 2012 (copy).