Empress Elisabeth, Franz X. Winterhalter, 1865
One of the most famous portrait paintings by Franz Xaver Winterhalter depicts the then 28-year-old Empress Elisabeth in full gala dress with diamond stars in her hair. These splendid and oft-imitated stars were made in different styles: with eight or ten points, and with or without pearls.
Belated reappearance
One of the set of ten-pointed stars with pearls at the centre was made available as a private loan for the great Empress Elisabeth Exhibition in 1998 in Schönbrunn Palace, but disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Ten years later the star reappeared in Canada and again went back to Austria in 2008. It is now being bought by Schloss Schönbrunn Kultur- und Betriebsges.m.b.H.
From January live
Since 27th January 2010 this original piece of jewellery, which is also depicted in a portrait of the Empress by Carl Höflmayer, is presented in its own high-security display cabinet as a permanent exhibit at the Sisi Museum.
