Richard Lauchert

Richard Lauchert (4 February 1823 – 27 December 1868), a German portrait painter who was mostly employed by the courts of Germany, England, and Russia, and painted portraits with great taste and ability, but many of his earlier productions are inferior to those of his later period.

Early life Lauchert was born in Sigmaringen on 4 February 1823. He was the son of the Court Chamberlain Joseph Lauchert and his wife Maria Waldburga Guttenberg.

Like his six brothers, he attended the Hedinger Progymnasium and then the Grand Ducal Baden Lyceum in Konstan.

Gallery

Personal life On 30 April 1857 in Herbsleben near Gotha, he married Princess Amalie Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst (1821–1902) against the wishes of her family. She was a daughter of Franz Joseph, Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst and Princess Constanze of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. Among her siblings were Prince Viktor I, Duke of Ratibor, whose portrait he painted in 1845. According to her brother Chlodwig's memoir:

"The resulting estrangement lasted but a few years. Princess Salm writes on the subject: 'Later on my sister was reconciled to all my and passed many a happy hour again with my brother Chlodwig. My brothers came to see that the man for whom she had given up all was entirely worthy of her. He was not only a talented artist but an admirable and wholly trustworthy character.'".

The couple had five children, of whom only three reached adulthood. Lauchert died in Berlin on 27 December 1868.