Richard Lauchert

Lauchert was born in Sigmaringen on 4 February 1823. He was the son of the Court Chamberlain Joseph Lauchert and his wife Maria Waldburga Guttenberg. Like his six brothers, he attended the Hedinger Progymnasium and then the Grand Ducal Baden Lyceum in Konstan. ==Career==

He was supported from an early age by Prince Karl Anton von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. From 1839, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich under Peter von Cornelius and attended the painting school there led by Joseph Bernhardt where his focus was on nudes and portraits. In 1845 he went to Paris and worked for a time with Franz Xaver Winterhalter. Gallery File:Viktor I. Herzog von Ratibor.jpg|Viktor I, Duke of Ratibor, 1845 File:Portrait of Pauline Fürstin von Hohenlohe Öhringen Prinzessin zu Fürstenberg.jpg|Princess Pauline of Fürstenberg (later Princess of Hohenlohe-Öhringen), 1851 File:Katharina von Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst.jpg|Princess Katharina of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst, 1853 File:Lauchert fuerstenberg.jpg|Charles Egon II, Prince of Fürstenberg, 1854 File:Großherzogin Sophie von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (Detail).jpg|Sophie, Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, 1855 File:Charles Alexander (1818-1901).jpg|Charles Alexander, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, 1855 File:Alexandra of Denmark, 1862 by Lauchert.jpg|Princess Alexandra of Denmark (later Queen consort of the United Kingdom), 1862 File:Marie de Castellane Radziwiłłowa-.jpg|Marie de Castellane, Princess Radziwiłł, 1864 ==Personal life==

On 30 April 1857 in Herbsleben near Gotha, he married Princess Amalie Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst (1821–1902) against the wishes of her family. She was a daughter of Franz Joseph, Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst and Princess Constanze of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. Among her siblings were Prince Viktor I, Duke of Ratibor, whose portrait he painted in 1845. According to her brother Chlodwig's memoir: "The resulting estrangement lasted but a few years. Princess Salm writes on the subject: 'Later on my sister was reconciled to all my and passed many a happy hour again with my brother Chlodwig. My brothers came to see that the man for whom she had given up all was entirely worthy of her. He was not only a talented artist but an admirable and wholly trustworthy character.'". The couple had five children, of whom only three reached adulthood. Lauchert died in Berlin on 27 December 1868. ==References==