Portrait of Cornelia Vetterlein
Artist: Joseph Karl Stieler (German, 1781–1858)
Date: 1828
Medium: Oil on canvas
Collection: Nymphenburg Palace, Munich, Germany
Antonietta Cornelia Vetterlein
Antonietta Cornelia Vetterlein, Baroness von Künsberg (25 December 1812, Münchberg – 5 March 1862, Mainleus), was a Bavarian beauty of the 19th century. She was the granddaughter of Bayreuth Court Gardner Schneider and the daughter of State Councillor Vetterlein. She appeared in the Gallery of Beauties gathered by Ludwig I of Bavaria in 1828.
In 1826, she attended the Royal Court Heigel as a student and attracted the attention of King Ludwig I of Bavaria. In 1828, the king commissioned the court painter Joseph Karl Stieler to paint her for his Gallery of Beauties collection in Nymphenburg Palace, Munich.
Most of the paintings in the Gallery of Beauties did not have significant backgrounds, but Cornelia symbolizes constancy and a castle is shown in the background. To match the castle, she is portrayed as the traditional German Lady of the Castle. The painting was completed in the same year when Cornelia was just 16 years old.