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This pair of miniature portraits of husband and wife by Henri Benner (the husband's portrait is clearly signed and dated: "Benner 1807") was made two years after the male sitter was awarded Commander Cross of the Austrian Military Marie-Theresian Order (in the portrait here he bears this neck cross; he received all of his other awards (visible in other known portraits of this man) after (!) 1807.

We are dealing here with very important portraits of famous Austrian warlord of the Napoleonic Epoch, Graf (Count) Heinrich von Bellegarde (1756-1845; see our images) and his wife (she was nine years his junior) Auguste, nee Countess Berlichingen (1765-1831).

Count Heinrich von Bellegarde, Viceroy of Lombardy-Venetia (German: Heinrich Joseph Johannes, Graf von Bellegarde or sometimes Heinrich von Bellegarde), (29 August 1756 - 22 July 1845), of a noble Savoyard family, was born in Saxony, joined the Saxon army and later entered Habsburg military service, where he became a general officer during in the Habsburg border wars, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He became a Generalfeldmarschall and statesman.
Born in Dresden in the Electorate of Saxony on 29 August 1756, his family stemmed from an old line of Savoairds. His father was the Saxon General Johann Franz von Bellegarde (named count in 1741) and his mother was Frau Reichsgräfin Maria Antonia von Hartig. Bellegarde first served in the Saxon army, receiving a commission as a Fähnrich (ensign) in the Infantry Regiment Bork; later as a lieutenant in the Queen's regiment. Transferring his services to Austria in 1771, Bellegarde and distinguished himself leading the dragoons regiment Zweibrück in the War of Bavarian Succession. In 1781, Joseph II named him major of the Savoy dragoons, and four years later he was colonel of the Dragoon Regiment Berlichingen.
At Batajnica (in German sources, called Bexania), a village on the outskirts of Belgrade, at 09:00 on 9 September 1788, Bellegarde engaged in his first feat of arms : with four squadron of his regiment, he led an attack against the Ottomans entrenched in a line between Batajnica and Semlin; and in the enthusiasm of the attack brought with him a squadron of the Division Zeschwitz Curassiers, the Joseph Toscana Dragoons, part of a division of Zelschwit curassiers and a squadron of Wurmser Hussars, securing control of a dam and earthenworks on a Danube tributary. By the end of fighting, in which Bellegarde played a pivotal role in leading the Wurmser Hussars to secure control of the earth works, the Ottoman force lost 300 men, and the Austrians lost 31, and 42 wounded. In the course of the following year, Bellegarde, with his dragoons, came under the command of General of Cavalry Count Kinsky. The largest part of the campaign, he remained with his regiment in cantonment, in the Banat, but as part of the force upon which Feldmarshal Laudon could draw. In late summer 1792, the Regiment Archduke Joseph Toscana dragoons transferred to the Netherlands.
After being appointed a General-Major in at the end of 1792, he fought in the War of the First Coalition in the Netherlands campaigns of 1793-1794, attached to the command of Feldzeugmeister Prince Hohenlohe, in the main headquarters of Trier. He commanded a defensive line between the Mosel and the Saar rivers, in the Eifel and at the border of the Liège; on his right stood Feldmarshal Lieutenant Beaulieu, and on his left, the Prussian general Kohler. He commanded three battalions, two light companies and two squadrons of hussars.
His contribution to the siege force at Le Quesnoy included two battalions of infantry regiment Grand duke of Tuscany (Nr 23), a battalion of the Sinoth grenadiers, and two battalions of the Wartensleben. The French made several attempts to lift the siege. On 17 August 1793, he was in the nearby forest with his command, and led a bayonette charge against 6,000 French positioned in the trees, chased them out, and occupied the wood. preventing these troops from relieving the besieged fortress. At the Battle of Avesnes-le-Sec on 12 September, cavalry under his command overran another French relief force in a "highly effective cavalry action."
After winning promotion to Feldmarshal-Leutnant, he served on the staff of the Archduke Charles in the fighting in Germany. He accompanied Charles to Italy in the following year. He was also employed in the congress of Rastatt.
In 1799, Bellegarde commanded a corps in eastern Switzerland, connecting the armies of Archduke Charles and Aleksandr Suvorov, and finally joined the latter in north Italy. He conducted the siege of the citadel of Alessandria, and was present at the decisive Battle of Novi. After the Austrian defeat at the Battle of Marengo (in which his brother Friedrich Bellegarde commanded a brigade), Emperor Francis II of Austria appointed Bellegarde to command the army in Italy with the rank of General of Cavalry. On 25 December, the French defeated Bellegarde at the Battle of Pozzolo.
In 1805, when Archduke Charles left to take command in Italy, Bellegarde became president ad interim of the council of war. He was, however, soon employed in the field, and at the sanguinary Battle of Caldiero he commanded the Austrian right.
In the War of the Fifth Coalition he commanded the I Armee Korps. He supervised the II Armee Korps, which was also posted on the north bank of the Danube River. Cut off from Archduke Charles as the result of the Battle of Eckmühl, he retreated into Bohemia, but managed to rejoin the main army before the great battles near Vienna. He led the I Korps in the battles of Aspern-Essling and Wagram. After the 1809 war, Bellegarde became a Feldmarschall. From 1809 to 1813 he was governor-general of Galicia, but was often called to preside over the meetings of the Aulic Council, especially in 1810 in connection with the reorganization of the Austrian army.
In 1813, 1814 and 1815 he led the Austrian armies in Italy. His successes in these campaigns were diplomatic as well as military, and he ended them by crushing the last attempt of Joachim Murat to regain the Kingdom of Naples in 1815. Between 1815 and 1816, he was Viceroy of Lombardy-Venetia. From 1816 to 1825, (when he had to retire owing to failing eyesight) he held various distinguished civil and military posts. He died in Vienna on 22 July 1845.


Countess Auguste von Bellegarde was one of the most renowned ladies of the Austrian aristocracy, which is evident from the extensive obituary following her death (see our images).

Already in his youth Henri (Jean Henri) Benner (1776 Mühlhausen, Thuringia - 1836 Paris) started painting oil portraits and landscapes and probably produced copper engravings as well. He travelled through Paris and Germany and returned to Mühlhausen for a short period (1803/04). He was a pupil of Jean-Baptiste Isabey but it is still unknown when exactly he began studying with the latter.
In 1815 during the Congress of Vienna he stayed (like Isabey! Did Benner work there as Isabey's assistant?) in that city and obtained an invitation to St. Petersburg from the Russian court. On the way to Russia he made a stopover in Warsaw which lasted almost one year. He arrived in St- Petersburg in the spring of 1816 and remained in Russia until 1828. He was one of the highest paid miniaturists of the Russian capital working chiefly for the court. He not only portrayed Russian royalties and courtiers but also made numerous copies after "Russian" portraits executed before by his teacher Isabey. Besides that, in 1820 he published a cycle of lithographs after his miniatures. Unfortunately the insolvency of his publishing house led him to financial ruin. In vain he tried to collect his money after 1824 also in Moscow and Kursk. Completely impoverished he returned to his native town Mühlhausen and devoted himself to glass painting.

Our images show several of Henri Benner's works that were offered at international art auction market in the last years.


Visit our store here on eBay for other works by this artist.


Literature: Oleg Sokolov "La Campagne de 1805 en Italie" in issue No. 72 (May-June 2017) of "Gloire & Empire", Paris, p. 30 (illustration)


Condition: good

Creation Year: 1807

Measurements: UNFRAMED: 6.5 cm x 4.8 cm / 2.6" x 1.9" Inches FRAMED: 12.5 cm x 11.1 cm / 4.9" x 4.4" Inches

Object Type: Framed miniatures

Style: Portrait miniatures

Technique: both: watercolor on organic wafer

Inscription: male portrait is signed and dated: Benner 1807

Creator: Henri (Jean Henri) Benner

Creator Dates: 1776 Mühlhousen-1836 Paris

Nationality: French


Themes:
AUSTRIAN
FRENCH
NAPOLEON
EMPIRE
GENERAL
MILITARY
MILITARY PORTRAIT
UNIFORM
MARRIED COUPLE
MALE PORTRAIT
FEMALE PORTRAIT
YOUNG WOMAN
GREATY

 

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