A stunning Victorian oil on canvas portrait of a good size (89 cm x 78 cm framed) in a solid giltwood frame. The subject appears to be an aristocratic lady, who wears a brooch bearing a royal insignia. This one is a bit of a mystery as the back right stretcher is signed "von Kaulbach" and the top back stretcher shows a pencil inscription stating "Copie v. von Kaulbach". It could be that previous owners were unsure of its exact provenance.

At present, the painting is attributed to Fredrich August von Kaulbach, and it is so finely executed that the appraisers who have seen it believe that it could be one of his original works commissioned by a noble family. The detailing of her dress and jewelry is especially exquisite.

Price analysis: https://www.lotsearch.net/artist/friedrich-august-von-kaulbach

Fredrich August von Kaulbach was a German Realist painter best known for his high-society portraits of celebrities and aristocrats, as well as his historical scenes of German Nationalistic and Teutonic sentiment. Kaulbach’s style was deeply informed by early 19th-century French academic painting techniques, and was particularly inspired by the portraits of Hans Holbein. Born on June 2, 1850 in Munich, Germany, he went on to study at the Royal School of Applied Arts in Nuremberg and with his father, the painter Freidrich Kaulbach. Today, his works are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Frye Art Museum in Seattle, the Morris Museum in New Jersey, and the Deutsches Historiches Museum in Berlin, among others.