Portrait of The Tragic Actress Fanny Janauschek

Arnold Böcklin completed this life-size portrait of actress Fanny Janauschek in 1861 during her guest performance in Weimar. Janauschek had just left Frankfurt, where she had risen to fame as a great tragic actress before disputes led to her dismissal. She was about thirty years old, and Böcklin captured her reserved, suffering quality rather than theatrical grandeur.

This is the only life-size full-body portrait Böcklin ever created, measuring an impressive 180 x 104.3 cm. The work belongs to the Romantic tradition and now hangs at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt. A recent four-year restoration revealed that Janauschek's blue-black dress had been extensively overpainted and obscured by yellowed varnish.