The Portrait of Baron Samuel von Brukenthal

The present portrait is one of several portraits in the possession of the Museum and it is considered to be both valuable aesthetically, as well as, one of the best illustrations of its subject’s complex personality.The first thing that strikes the viewer is the simplicity and the lack of richly ornamented dress and luxurious background that were de rigueur in the epoch. We surmise that this simplicity was requested by the sitter himself. The painting is not dated, but there is a clue as to terminus ad quem: the Baron is wearing the Order of Saint Stephen, that he was awarded in 1787, on the completion of his tenure as Governor of Transylvania.