Marie Sartorius (1842-1871)

This portrait shows Marie Sartorius from Littfeld at the age of 18. She is sitting in a rust-red upholstered chair set against a sage-green background. Marie Sartorius wears a black dress with sheer sleeves that leaves her shoulders bare. We catch a glimpse of a white lace hem lining the straight neckline. The sitter has blue eyes and dark brown long hair, which is carefully pinned up, with a centre parting and a narrow hair band. Her hands rest in her lap. Marie Sartorius is looking towards her future husband, for she will marry the artist Johannes Deiker in 1863. The two met during Deiker’s stay at Schloss Braunsfeld, a period in which several landscapes of the Siegerland were painted as well. Johannes Deiker was known above all as a painter of hunting scenes and animals, yet created a few portraits, too, such as prominent persons from the Houses of Solms and Lippe-Detmold, for example. The portrait of Marie Sartorius is one of the few preserved works of people from the region at that time. The work was a gift from the district to mark the 50th anniversary of the Siegerlandmuseum.