HESS, Heinrich Maria von
(b. 1798, Düsseldorf, d. 1863, München)

Marchesa Florenzi

1828
Oil on canvas, 192 x 139 cm
Neue Pinakothek, Munich

A type of portrait that the Nazarenes were highly successful with was the fanciful female portrait, in which the medieval dream is that of the courtly Romance. Hess's depiction of the Marchesa Florenzi, mistress to the king of Bavaria, is a prime example of this.