# Henri-Guillaume Schlesinger

Henri-Guillaume Schlesinger, originally Wilhelm Heinrich Schlesinger (6 August 1814, in Frankfurt am Main – 21 February 1893, in Neuilly-sur-Seine) was a French portrait and genre painter of German birth. He was especially known for his lively and sensitive depictions of young women.

## Biography

He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, and was originally active in that city. He then moved to Paris, where he participated in the Salon from 1840 to 1889 and received two medals.
During a visit to Istanbul in 1837, he was commissioned to do several official paintings of Sultan Mahmud II, including a large equestrian portrait and one of the Sultan wearing Western-style clothing, which is now on display at the Topkapi Palace Museum. One was donated to King Louis-Philippe by Mustafa Reşid Pasha, who was then serving as Ambassador to France, and may now be seen at Versailles.
His painting "The Five Senses" was purchased by Empress Eugénie in 1865. The following year, he was named a Chevalier in the Legion of Honor and became a French citizen in 1870, just before the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War. During the war and the subsequent Commune, he lived in London.
In addition to oil paintings, he was a watercolorist and painted miniatures on ivory.

## Works

| Title | Date | Size | Notes | Collection |
| Portrait of a young lady | 1832 | | | Private collection |
| Portrait of the art dealer Dominik Artaria | 1836 | 76.5 x 60.5 cm | | Unknown |
| Bust portrait of a Viennese middle-class woman | 1836 | 76.5 x 60.5 cm | | Vienna, Belvedere |
| Equestrian portrait of Sultan Mahmud II | 1837 | | | Private collection |
| Portrait of a woman | 1838 | | | |
| Portrait of Sultan Mahmud II | 1839 | | | Private collection |
| Portrait of the writer Louis Lurine | 1844 | | | |
| Blind man's buff | 1844 | | | Private collection |
| Young women singing and playing the lute | 1844 | | | Private collection |
| Young peasant couple | 1845 | 42.9 x 33 cm | | Private collection |
| A harem interior | 1846 | 74 x 93 cm | | Private collection |
| A dreamy look | 1852 | | | Private collection |
| Courtly scene with a maid | 1859 | | | Private collection |
| Two curious girls on the stairs before a Mediterranean landscape | 1860 circa | 112 x 87 cm | | Private collection |
| The stolen child | 1861 | | | |
| Touch; the five senses | 1865 circa | 115.5 x 89.5 cm | Exhibited at the 1865 salon, and acquired by Napoleon III | Private collection |
| Taste; the five senses | 1865 circa | 115.5 x 89.5 cm | Exhibited at the 1865 salon, and acquired by Napoleon III | Private collection |
| Hearing; the five senses | 1865 circa | 115.5 x 89.5 cm | Exhibited at the 1865 salon, and acquired by Napoleon III | Private collection |
| Smell; the five senses | 1865 circa | 115.5 x 89.5 cm | Exhibited at the 1865 salon, and acquired by Napoleon III | Private collection |
| Sight; the five senses | 1865 circa | 115.5 x 89.5 cm | Exhibited at the 1865 salon, and acquired by Napoleon III | Private collection |
| Lost in thought | 1868 | 73 x 59.7 cm | | Private collection |
| Alone at the atelier | 1868 | 125.7 x 108 cm | | Philadelphia, Museum of Art |
| An Egyptian girl preparing for the bath | 1869 | 90 x 117.5 cm | | Private collection |
| An Italian maiden | 1870 | 51 x 35 cm | | Private collection |
| An Italian beauty | 1870 | 72.5 x 60 cm | Even if the painting is titled A Spanish beauty, if you see the artwork above has the same clothes, so is quite more likely an Italian one. | Private collection |
| Girl with lovebirds | 1876 | | | Harrogate, Mercer Art Gallery |
| A beautiful frame | 1879 circa | | | |
| The reprimand | 1879 | | | Private collection |
| The young artist | 1884 | | | Private collection |
| Girl with a mandolin | 1887 | 107 x 63.5 cm | | Private collection |
| Girl with dead bird | 1890 | 86 x 74 cm | | Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum |
| Fair in the Pyrenees | | 31.2 x 42.7 cm | | United Kingdom, Royal Collection |
| Young dancer with tambourine | | | | Private collection |
| Chess players | | | | Private collection |
| A ride | | | | Private collection |
| Turkish Woman and Chibouk | | | | Private collection |
| Welcome change | | 49 x 66 cm | The painting is only attributed | Private collection |