26.0 x 17.7 cm. 229 g.

Baroque wooden panel with painting, a gift from court deacon Ernst Gottfried Brehme to Duchess Luise Christine of Saxony-Weissenfels. The front features allegorical depictions arranged in three ornamental cartouches: in the central cartouche, a kneeling woman in a white dress (presumably representing the duchess herself) stands before an idyllic, idealized landscape, her hands and face raised in a prayerful pose, above which a cornucopia of fruit, held down by a stigmatized hand emerging from parted clouds, is pouring out its contents. To the left of this, within the same landscape, sunlight powerfully breaks through the cloud cover, an anchor as a symbol of steadfastness in faith, and an eye as a metaphor for God or divine omnipresence. The right cartouche depicts an altar bearing the princely crowned monogram LC, upon which rests a heart engulfed in flames. Each cartouche is surmounted by a banner bearing a biblical quotation. A larger banner connecting all three cartouches below bears the inscription God has dealt well with me; therefore, I am intent on praising Him. On the reverse side, the panel bears a dedicatory text: These three allegorical images were conceived on the 17th Sunday after Trinity. 1730. They were designed during a sermon delivered in the princely chamber based on the Gospel reading of the day, and were dedicated to Her Most Serene Highness Princess and Lady [sic.] Louise Christine, Duchess of Saxony, I. L. B. E., v. w. In blessed remembrance of God’s providential care during her severe illness, which she happily survived at that time, and dedicated with a devout and heartfelt wish by Ernst Gottfried Brehmen, F.S., Court Deacon. One of the banners shows slight color loss; the varnish is minimally yellowed.

Louise Charlotte of Saxony-Weissenfels (1675–1738), née Countess of Stolberg-Stolberg, first married the significantly older Count of Mansfeld-Eisleben at just under 30 years of age, before entering into a second marriage with Duke Christian of Saxony-Weissenfels (1682–1736) following his death in 1712. Both marriages remained childless. The most famous members of the ducal court were Heinrich von Brühl (1700–1763), a favorite of Augustus the Strong and later Saxon Prime Minister under Augustus III, who had served as a page to the Duchess in his youth, as well as the Grand Ducal Saxon-Weissenfels Kapellmeister Johann Sebastian Bach. Ernst Gottfried Brehme (1705–1778) studied theology in Wittenberg and Leipzig and subsequently accepted a position as a village pastor near the residence of Weißenfels. Just two years later, in 1729, he was promoted to court deacon; further career advances at the court in Weißenfels followed, such as his appointment as consistorial assessor in 1730 and court preacher in 1731. Since the dedication on the wooden panel names him as court deacon, it appears that the duchess’s illness and the commissioning of this commemorative portrait predated Brehme’s appointment as consistorial assessor.