King Ludwig I's beauty gallery

The gallery of beautiful women, painted by Joseph Karl Stieler for King Ludwig I, still exerts an unusual fascination for visitors to Schloss Nymphenburg. The gallery of beauties was part of the Munich residence of the king in the so-called conversation or game romms of the ballroom building. The gallery was open to the public and was therfore already listed in contemporary guidebooks as one of the attractions of Munich. All 36 images of the beauties have been reproduced in color and without the usual amputation of the painted surfaces. The catalog with details pertaining to the history of the individual portraits and the persons portrayed is prepended by a study dealing with the genre of galleries of beautiful women in general as well as an essay about their historical development.