Volker Hermes: Portrait & Person

Hardly recognizable and yet clearly, Frederick the Great, Prussia's most famous king and general, is not only given a face covering, but also a leather harness and paper hat by the artist Volker Hermes. What may seem provocative is actually an artistic intervention: Hermes' interpretation dissects the functions a portrait of a ruler. He also blends together various aspects that play a role in the historical classification of this specific king.

Portraits have always been an important element of public relations. Frederick the Great had himself painted exclusively with carefully chosen attributes that still define his visual image today: uniform, Order of the Eagle or tricorn hat (although he certainly did not always wear a uniform in everyday life). In other words, he himself laid the foundations for an extremely successful “branding,” which has become deeply engraved in our visual memory and is still used for marketing purposes today.

In an ironic exaggeration, Volker Hermes takes up this iconic prussian „brand identity“ by reproducing the Prussian Order of the Eagle, actually an expression of an elevated position, as wrapping paper. He even forms a little paper hat into the characteristic tricorn hat. The fetish mask, which leaves Fredericks equally characteristic nose exposed, refers to the use of key stimuli in portraits and echoes a discussion that accompanies the perception of Frederick the Great as background noise: his suspected but unproven homosexuality. The newly created harness can be read in a similarly ambiguous way. What can be read today as a widely known element of queer esthetics actually has its origins in the military. Volker Hermes thus emphasizes the ambivalence between the esthete who is enthusiastic about philosophy and art and the ruler with martial ambitions of power. Ambitions that are illustrated by the sweeping gesture with the commander's baton in this very painting. Even after Hermes' modification, Frederick remains king and general, but the attributes of his power are placed in the context of a complex personality through his exaggeration. It becomes clear that art is not only beautiful, but also served as a means of self-representation and branding.

Volker Hermes

Potsdam, Sanssouci Palace, Frederick the Great's study and bedroom (r. 116)

Frederick the Great succeeded his father as king on the Prussian throne in 1740. His unexpected victory over Saxony, Austria and Russia in the Third Silesian War, also known as the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), made him go down in history as a great military commander. He succeeded in expanding his kingdom by adding the province of Silesia and establishing Prussia as the fifth major European power alongside France, Great Britain, Austria and Russia.

This portrait of the king was painted shortly after his victory in 1763 and shows the king as a general in an open landscape. Dressed in the interim coat with the Order of the Eagle emblazoned on his chest, he stands behind a rock. His left hand rests on several maps, his right hand holds the baton of command. His direct eye contact and sweeping gesture allow us to participate in his successful strategy.

Georg Ziesenis (1716-1776) is associated with the Hanoverian Rococo style. Although the king was very reluctant to have himself painted, Frederick is said to have sat for the artist. Ziesenis developed the painting shown here and other variants from this model. The question of how the portrait was created sparked long-lasting controversy: To this day, researchers are still not sure whether Ziesenis was really able to use the king as a model and how realistic the portrait really is.

Alexander Reich

In his “Hidden Portraits”, Volker Hermes sheds light on the tense relationship between personal identity and social status, as depicted in historical portraits. In some works, he completely conceals the people depicted so that only the luxurious clothing, materials, jewellery and accessories remain visible - all symbols of social status. This is particularly evident in a portrait that is thought to depict Sophia Charlotta Possart. Wrapped in a radiant blue robe and adorned with jewels and pearls, the focus after Hermes' modification lies on the splendour of her outfit, not on her person.

Possart's story plays an important role in this: She was abducted from the Ottoman Empire and served at the court of Electress Sophie Charlotte. Her original name and thus her previous identity was erased. In this portrait, we therefore see the role she was given from the outside. Hermes makes this loss visible by completely veiling her and thus emphasizing that her true personal identity, her actual history, remains hidden behind the splendour of her social role.

Volker Hermes

Berlin, Charlottenburg Palace, Old Palace, Toilet chamber (r. 110)

The young woman, elegantly adorned with gold and precious stones, is identified in research as a servant of the Brandenburg Electress Sophie Charlotte. During a forced “Turkish baptism”, typical of the time, she had to give up not only her Muslim faith but also her birth name. She therefore adopted a variation of the name of the electress who became her “mistress”.

Sophia Charlotta worked like other chamber Turks from the Ottoman Empire. The Electress had a good relationship with her servants of foreign origin; she treated them well, did not make them do heavy work and paid them above-average wages. In some cases, she even had portraits made of them for her apartment in Charlottenburg Palace. However, the depictions also show the sometimes stylized costumes that the servants were supposed to wear. With “oriental” headdresses, turbans and tassels on their robes, they differed from European fashion and were thus presented as “exotic” status symbols. Due to her fascination for all things “foreign” and “exotic”, the Electress celebrated large costume parties. These so-called “Turqueries” had become fashionable from the late 16th century onwards: The clothing, decorations and drinking habits of the Ottoman Empire were freely imitated by the European elite. Orientalism emerged, characterized by a Eurocentric view. This was indicated by a sense of superiority, in which an “enlightened West” was contrasted with a “mysterious Orient”.

The painting was probably created before 1695. The painter, Gedeon Romandon (1667-1697), was court painter to the Great Elector Frederick William from 1687 and later to his son Frederick III. Typical of his style is the lively facial expression, which is emphasized by the boldly moving robes and bodies.

Alexander Reich

In his works, Volker Hermes works with the compositions of the original portraits. He changes the staging of the people depicted by deliberately obscuring their faces. This is how he creates new levels of meaning by dismantling and rearranging pictorial elements. In this portrait of Sophie Dorothea, for example, he removes the crown visible in the background in order to focus on her as a woman and not just as Queen. He disassembles the crown into smaller parts and uses them to create new pieces of jewellery that appear elsewhere in the picture.

The most striking feature of the portrait, however, is the monumental bow made of white silk that Hermes forms from the Queen's large hood. Bows play a special role in his work. They serve him as a metaphor for beauty or ideals of beauty, which are particularly evident in the fashion and accessories in his portraits. At the same time, they point out how the focus in female portraits is often on beauty and how other aspects of life are pushed into the background. In this work, the bow conceals a large part of the face and only allows a limited view of the Queen - only her left eye remains visible. This raises the question of what is hidden from us. The bow appears to be deliberately tied in front of her face, and Sophie Dorothea is holding the end of the silk scarf in her hand. Whether she has knotted it herself or plans to open it for us remains unwanswered. With this modification, Volker Hermes gives the Queen power and self-determination over how much of herself she wants to show and to what extent she wants to submit to the ideals of beauty.

Volker Hermes

Rheinsberg, Rheinsberg House, Writing cabinet (r. 33)

The portrait shows the 50-year-old Queen with a lapdog. She is wearing pearl jewellery and is dressed entirely in white and dusty pink. Underneath the velvet dress trimmed with ermine fur, elaborate lace emerges from the décolleté and arms. Each black dot on the fur hem represents an ermine that has been killed. In those days, this was a sign of wealth and princely dignity. Today, many people have a very critical view of animal suffering. She is wearing a sweeping silk hood on her head. On the left in the background is the Queen's crown on a velvet cushion richly embroidered with gold thread, the symbol of her status. It therefore follows the type of the official state portrait and was not made for a purely private context.

The French-born painter Antoine Pesne (1683-1757) received his training under Charles de la Fosse, the court painter of Louis XIV, among others. In 1710, he came to Berlin at the request of the first prussian King, Frederick I, where he was engaged as court painter. He created a large number of important portraits of nobility and ceiling paintings. He presented this portrait, of which there were at least two other versions, to Crown Prince Frederick II at Rheinsberg Palace on November 8, 1737. It can be seen there again today. The occasion was the birthday of his wife Elisabeth Christine. Frederick II had an extraordinarily close relationship with his mother and declared her the first lady of the state during his own reign - even before his wife.

Alexander Reich

Volker Hermes

Berlin, Charlottenburg Palace, Old Palace, Toilet chamber (r. 110)

Alexander Reich

Painted portraits have always served rulers as an expression of their power. This painting, for example, shows Empress Catherine II presenting herself before the throne with all the insignia of her position. Volker Hermes exaggerates this splendor by extending the coronation mantle over Catherine's head. He conceals many of the central symbols of her power, such as the scepter, orb, and the medals on her chest. He is emphasizing the imperial crown, which is now enthroned on a mountain of precious fabrics—a crown that still holds the same symbolic value today as it did then. The empress's individuality as a person is replaced by her rank and social function.

Hermes emphasizes how strongly Catherine was bound and constrained in her role by extending the cords of the draped interior and wrapping them around her now-veiled figure. The empress appears interwoven with the interior of the courtly system. Diamonds swirl around her head, just as she herself was surrounded by the courtly structures. Hermes addresses the difficulty of this situation for her as a woman in a newly created element: He forms an ornament from parts of the throne, decorated with pearls and a ruby, which is placed exactly in the center of the empress's body. This detail addresses the wild speculation and exaggerations about her alleged sexual promiscuity. The powerful empress was reduced to her sexuality in order to humiliate her. A woman, even an empress, was not allowed to openly display sexual needs.

Volker Hermes

Potsdam, New Palace, Upper small bedroom (r. 274)

The life-sized portrait by the court painter Vigilius Erichsen (1722-1782) depicts the russian empress in full coronation regalia with an ermine-trimmed gold coat embroidered with the russian coat of arms. On her head she wears the imperial crown, while in her hands she holds the symbols of her power—the orb and the scepter.
After Catherine had ousted her husband Peter III from power, she did everything in her ability to shed her image as a German princess and be recognized as empress and autocrat of Russia. To achieve this goal, a magnificently staged coronation ceremony and skillful pictorial propaganda were of great importance. The imperial Russian colors of gold and white were just as important as the double-headed eagle and the highest Russian order of St. Andrew with the blue sash. The column in the background is also intended to symbolize the stability of her government.

Catherine commissioned numerous “[…] portraits with clear messages, the details of which could be changed or adapted depending on the situation.“ This state portrait, which was given to Frederick II of Prussia as a gift, is now in the New Palace in Potsdam. This exchange of gifts from 1769/71 confirmed the defensive alliance of 1764 between Prussia and Russia following the Seven Years' War.

Alexander Reich

Volker Hermes' reinterpretation of the portrait bust of Queen Luise shows her as a “saint” with magnificent curly hair. The original by Rauch already contains symbols that suggest a mythological veneration of the queen: He deliberately chose a bust of the Roman goddess Juno as his model. By combining Luise's portrait with this ancient Goddess, he elevated her from a mortal queen to a divine figure.

Hermes heightens this divine motif by pulling Luise's curly bangs far over her eyes, thus blocking the view of her individual facial features. The diadem, which symbolizes her social status in the original, is reinterpreted as a halo in Hermes' work. He exaggerates the elements that already served to portray Luise as a divine being in the original, thus referring to developments in the 19th and 20th centuries: After her death, Queen Luise was increasingly idealized and venerated in a personality cult that reinterpreted her not only as the mother of the Prussian rulers, but also as the mother of the German people. A realistic portrayal gave way to a highly idealized one and was sometimes instrumentalized for nationalist ideologies.

Hermes incorporates this historical knowledge into his work: Through his alterations, Luise is completely transformed into a mystical figure. Any personal individuality that one would expect in a portrait bust is replaced by symbols of idealization and deification. In addition to the enlarged diadem, which now resembles a halo, she wears a “moon disk” as an allusion to the goddess Juno, who was worshipped in ancient Rome as the mother goddess and symbol of fertility, the sky and the moon.

Volker Hermes

Berlin, Mausoleum Charlottenburg

Queen Louise is still the best known and most popular of the Prussian rulers. She is said to have been beautiful and approachable. She and her husband, Frederick William III, had ten children together. In her youth, she felt the insecurity that had spread in princely circles since the French Revolution. Later, she and her family had to flee from Napoleon Bonaparte. Luise was always honoured by the people, but especially after the victory over Napoleon, she was held in particularly high regard. When she died suddenly at the age of just 34, the whole country was shocked. A veritable cult developed to honor the dearly departed Luise.

This larger-than-life bust by Christian Daniel Rauch is a precursor to the many idealised portraits of the queen after her death. He created it based on the head of Juno Ludovisi in Rome between 1805 and 1806. He finally completed it in 1810, shortly after receiving the news of the queen's sudden death.  The relationship between Luise and Rauch was a familiar one, as the sculptor had already replaced his deceased brother in 1797 and became the queen's valet de chambre. 

As queen of the gods and wife of Jupiter, Juno was one of the most important figures in ancient Roman mythology. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the colossal head bust of Juno Ludovisi - a sculpture from the 1st century BC - became famous for its beauty and monumental dimensions and inspired not only poets but also visual artists such as Christian Daniel Rauch.

Alexander Reich