Adelheid Marie, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, Duchess of Nassau, was born in Dessau. The family castle in Dessau and theatre shaped her childhood. Her talent for painting was encouraged at an early age by her parents, Prince Frederick Augustus von Anhalt-Dessau (1799-1864) and Princess Marie Louise Charlotte von Hessen-Kassel (1814-1895). The Grand Duchess had the privilege of receiving an artistic education, influenced by Henriette Catherine d'Orange (1637-1708), one of her distant ancestors. Adelheid Marie became a beacon of inspiration herself, shaping future generations, including Princess Marie-Gabrielle de Luxembourg (1925-2003). From an early age and throughout her life, Adelheid Marie received extensive training in drawing and painting. She took private lessons with several internationally renowned foreign artists. Her training was honed by study trips to several European capitals (Rome, Paris and Vienna). In 1851, she married Duke Adolphe of Nassau. They had five children, including Crown Prince Guillaume (1852-1912). Following the historic events of 1866, the Grand Duchess's health deteriorated. In 1890, when Grand Duke Adolphe acceded to the throne, she became the first Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, a role, which involved new responsibilities and obligations. However, Adelheid Marie's time spent in Luxembourg was always short, as she preferred to stay in Königstein, where she had her familiar surroundings and her painting studio. In 1892, she had her own studio built in the Grand Ducal Palace in Luxembourg. Arguably, alongside her husband, she became the first woman to play a key role in Luxembourg's art scene. Together, they shared a passion for the arts. They encouraged the artistic creation of their time in many ways, for example through the creation of an artistic circle, patronage, commissions and the collection of works of art. After the death of Adolphe in 1905, Adelheid Marie retired to Königstein, but visited Luxembourg regularly. She passed away in 1916 and is buried in the princely crypt of the Nassau family in Weilburg.

The Grand Duchess expressed herself in many artistic fields. Her preferred techniques were oil on canvas or cardboard, drawing, watercolour, tempera, painting on silk and, at the end of her life, photography. Her artistic training and evolution can be traced chronologically thanks to the private lessons she took throughout Europe. In 1849, during a stay in Denmark, she began to study oil painting with the painter Heinrich Buntzen (1803-1892). The painter from the Düsseldorf Academy Carl Irmer (1834-1900) acquainted her with his main genre, landscape painting. She then studied in Wiesbaden with Otto Reinhard Jacobi (1812 or 1814-1901), a member of the Düsseldorf School, who introduced the young duchess to the secrets of genre painting (Even 40). In Rome, Hermann Corrodi (1844-1905) sparked her interest in historical subjects. In Paris, she trained in the studio of Benjamin Constant (1845-1902), where she developed a sensitivity for warm colours of Orientalism. In Vienna, Victor Stauffer (1852-1934) steered her towards portraiture, for which she had an exceptional aptitude (Even 20). In 1875, the Munich painter Benno Adam (1812-1892) taught her animal painting. In Luxembourg, she frequently worked together with the Luxembourg artist Pierre Blanc (Even 40). Like the great masters, she practised by making copies. A good example of this is a copy of one of the genre paintings by the painter Otto Brandt (1828-1892), acquired for the Grand Ducal collection (Even 20).

Her style developed from academic Naturalism to Impressionism and changed according to her successive lessons and encounters with artists abroad and in Luxembourg. Passionate about nature, she preferred to paint still lifes and landscapes, especially those around the residences of Oranienstein and, from 1859, Königstein in the Taunus. She painted views of forests and castles, portraits, still lifes, interiors as well as religious and floral ornamentation. In the early 1870s, she made several trips through Europe, especially to Italy, where she gained new inspiration for her landscape painting. The interior of Hohenburg Castle near Lenggries in Bavaria offered her the opportunity to practise painting on silk on the wallpapers of several salons (Schlim 141). After the reconstruction of the Königstein house in 1877, it once again became the centre of the Grand Duchess's painting activities. She decorated the adjacent neo-Gothic Protestant church with numerous paintings. The church was built in 1888 on land she had donated for that purpose. In 1889, she decorated its pulpit with floral motifs and, in 1894, the floral ornamentation of the balustrade. The angels painted above the entrance to the sacristy were inspired by the famous angels in Raphael's (1483-1520) Sistine Chapel (Even 34). At the same time, the Grand Duchess turned more and more to flower painting, as in her discreet and skilfully executed Dutch style Bouquet of Flowers (1889) (Koltz 281). Finally, towards the end of her life, she also experimented with photography (Even 44).

For a long time, the Grand Duchess refused to show her work to the public (Even 45). In 1915, however, she agreed to a retrospective exhibition in Königstein, which covered more than 60 years of her career. As for group exhibitions, she participated in the Salon du Cercle Artistique (C.A.L.) ten times between 1894 and 1911. After her death, her works featured in several exhibitions, including 100 Joer Lëtzebuerger Dynastie: Collections et Souvenirs de la Maison Grand-Ducale staged at the Musée national d'archéologie, d'histoire et d'art (MNAHA) in 1990-1991.

As Grand Duchess, she has maintained regular contact with artists since she was very young. In those days, she played an important role in valorising women as painters. In Königstein, she took painting lessons together with her ladies-in-waiting, Baroness Charlotte von Apor zu Altorga (1864-1914) and Bertha von Preen (1829-1923). It was with the latter that she decorated the Protestant Immanuel Church in Königstein. All three woman exhibited their work at the first Salon du C.A.L. in 1894. The Grand Duchess encouraged many other painters to display their works at the Salon d'art de Luxembourg, including Thérèse Glaesener-Hartmann and Anne Pescatore. She was in contact with numerous artists, including the founders of the C.A.L. Michel Engels, Franz Heldenstein and Pierre Blanc, but also foreign painters such as Charles de Pidoll, Reginald Bottomley and Mihaly Munkacsy, who, on the Grand Duchess's initiative, became members of the Cercle artistique from the outset.

In Luxembourg, the Grand Duchess's works can be found mainly in the collections of the Maison du Grand-Duc and the MNAHA. In Germany, the interiors of some castles (e.g. Hohenburg Castle) and the Protestant Immanuel Church in Königstein are decorated with several of her works.

The Grand Duchess played a very active role in community life and was honorary president of the Nassauischer Kunstverein (Nassau art association), which was founded in 1847. To honour the legacy of her mother-in-law, Duchess Pauline (1810-1856), Adelheid Marie and Duke Adolphe created the Pauline Foundation in 1857 in Wiesbaden. From the very beginning, she was a member of the Cercle artistique de Luxembourg (C.A.L.), which was founded in 1893. As a patron of the arts, she supported many painters of the Munich School. She opened her much-loved place of work, the Malerhaus in Hohenburg Castle in Bavaria, to her artist friends.

Together with her husband, the Grand Duchess founded the Prix Grand-Duc Adolphe (Grand-Duke Adolphe Prize), which is undoubtedly one of the most prestigious prizes in Luxembourg to date. It has been awarded since 1902 to artists exhibiting at the “Salons” of the Cercle Artistique.

According to Émile-Théodore Melchers, Adelheid Marie played a pioneering role in the history of Luxembourg art (Melchers n.p.). The retrospective of all her works in Königstein in 1915 attracted great attention (Even 45). Numerous articles appeared in the local newspaper Taunus-Zeitung (Even 46), some of which praised the technical quality of the Grand Duchess's paintings, comparing them with those of Hans Thoma (1839-1924), Adolph von Menzel (1815-1905) and others (Even 47). Today, Adelheid Marie's paintings in the Protestant Immanuel Church in Königstein are her only works accessible to the public.

Since her childhood, the Grand Duchess has always had a passion for art. She painted more or less intensely like an accomplished artist and promoted female artists. Thanks to her contribution and dedication, art has taken a considerable and lasting place in Luxembourg society.

Works cited

Even, Pierre. Herzogin Adelheid Marie zu Nassau, Großherzogin von Luxemburg - eine talentierte Malerin. Bad Ems: Verein für Geschichte, Denkmal- und Landschaftspflege e.V., 2009. Print.

"Grossherzogin Adelheid-Marie von Luxemburg." Luxemburger Wort Die Warte Nr31/771, 24.11.1966: n.p.

Koltz, Jean Luc. "La peinture de la Renaissance à la Première Guerre mondiale." Langini, Alex. L’art au Luxembourg : de la Renaissance au début du XXIe siècle. Bruxelles: Fonds Mercator, 2006, p. 265-303. Print.

Melchers, Émile-Théodore, and Ursy Melchers-Schmol. Unvergessene Gestalten unserer Dynastie. Luxemburg: Sankt-Paulus-Druckerei, 1994, n. p. Print.

Schlim, Jean Louis, Marcus Lux, and Eva Baumann. Schloss Hohenburg : die nassauisch-luxemburger Residenz in Bayern. Oberhaching: Aviatic, 1998. Print.