Pesne, a French-born Rococo painter of historical subjects and portraits, was probably the most important artist in Prussia in the first half of the 18th century. His finest work exhibits lively brushwork and brilliant colouring, accompanied by a perceptive characterization of his sitters. From the 1740s onwards Pesne was in the service of Frederick II of Prussia (‘the Great’), an outstanding military leader and celebrated patron of the arts, producing decorative schemes for Schloss Charlottenborg and Sansouci. In 1748 he sent a masterful portrait of himself by Pesne to his first cousin, Frederick, Prince of Wales (RCIN 406797).

Fredericka, was a German noblewoman and member of the House of Wettin. She was the second wife of John Adolphus II, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels (1685-1746) whose pendant portrait is in the collection (RCIN 405656). Her younger sister, Augusta (1719-72) became Princess of Wales on her marriage to Frederick, Prince of Wales in 1736. In the same year Fredericke’s husband inherited the paternal domains on the death of his older brother.

Her fashionable brocaded silk gown, woven with a silver thread ground and large scale patterns, heavy fruit and flower forms is typical of the 1730s and 40s. The darker colour combinations seen here are more frequently found on the continent than England where lighter ground colours with brightly coloured motifs were preferred. Her hair is the tete de mouton style, curled close to the head and powdered. Bows had become a new fashionable motif in the eighteenth century and Frederica wears a diamond necklace in the form of a bow.