(Lunéville 1725–1784 Stuttgart)
Portrait of an elegant young lady with a serinette (bird organ) and a finch in a birdcage, in the background the portrait of her lover, possibly a portrait of Josepha Seyfert, Countess Heydeck (1748–1771) and of Prince Elector Karl Theodor of the Palatinate,
oil on canvas, 44.3 x 36 cm, framed

The present painting can be ascribed to the immediate circle of the Palatine court in Mannheim under Prince Elector Karl Theodor. This pictorial type was evidently created by Johann Georg Ziesenis. The painting has been occasionally attributed to him, but also to Anton Wilhelm Tischbein and Johann Heinrich Tischbein. In 1757 Ziesenis made a small-format portrait of the Prince Elector with a morning robe, playing the flute; on the back wall of the interior hangs the portrait of his wife (Bavarian National Museum, Munich). The physionomy of the man depicted in the background is very similar to that of the Prince Elector Karl Theodor, whilst the traits of the young woman are reminiscent of those of his mistress, the former dancer Josepha Seyfert who later advanced to the title of Countess Heydeck (cf. her portrait, attributed to H. C. Brandt, now preserved at the Reiss-Museum, Mannheim). The present painting was possibly executed in connection with the decoration of the bath house in the palace garden in Schwetzingen, carried out by the Württemberg court painter Nicolas Guibal in 1770, to which it can be stylistically linked (cf. its overdoors in the Prince Elector’s bedroom in the bath house as well as the portrait of the family of Count Neipperg at Schwaigern Castle, Württemberg). In a manner comparable to the English “conversation pieces”, this variant of the representation of frienship is a work that reflects the enlightened spirit of the Mannheim court.