Violet B. Wenner

Baroness Violet Beatrice Wenner (1884 – December 7, 1970[1]) was an Anglo-American artist known for her portraiture. She painted a wide range of prominent individuals, including crowned heads of Europe, American politicians, scientists and industrialists.

Violet Beatrice Wenner
Baroness Wenner endorsement for Checker Cabs, 1929
Born
Manchester, England, UK
SpouseBaron Adolf von Sternenfels (1911–1920, divorced)
RelativesMax Wenner, Christopher Wenner

Biography

Wenner was born in the first quarter (January, February or March) of 1884[2] in Manchester, England, to Swiss parents, although in later life she made a wide array of claims about the specific year of her birth within the 1880s.[3][4][5][6][7] She had an exhibit of her work at Pisco's Gallery in Vienna in about 1908.[5] Wenner, who studied with Sir Walter Crane in England, and Heinrich von Angeli in Vienna, in Munich and in Paris,[8] was also said to be a talented harpist.[8] Wenner was married in 1911 near the family home in Alderley Edge to a captain of the Ulanen and gentleman in waiting to the King of Württemberg, Adolf Conrad von Sternenfels, Baron Von Sternenfels.[9][10] Von Sternenberg was elsewhere described as adjutant general to the king of Battenberg.[11]

The couple divorced[6][lower-alpha 1] in approximately 1920[13] and the Baroness moved to the United States in 1922,[8] where she became a naturalized citizen in 1931.[6] She acknowledged that her U.S. citizenship made her title null and void but nonetheless she was always referred to in print as Baroness Wenner. Wenner spent some time in New York[6] but primarily lived and worked primarily in Chicago, Illinois.[10] Her residence of many years was the Italian Court Building at 619 N. Michigan on the Magnificent Mile.[3] A suitcase stolen from the vestibule of her apartment in 1940 contained US$3,500 (equivalent to about $73,110 in 2022) of jewelry, including a platinum bracelet set with diamonds and sapphire, and a string of pearls.[14] When the Italian Court Building was due to be demolished in the late 1960s, she moved to the St. Clair Hotel.[3] She had a large collection of crystal and porcelain objects of the Napoleon III period that she sold to a Florida museum.[3]

Wenner's then-future husband Adolf v Sternenfels Frhr in a German military directory published 1907, listed immediately below a relation of Claus von Stauffenberg

Wenner painted Col. George A. Whiting, Allan Mowbray, Mrs. Ossip Gabrilowitch,[15] Kaiser Wilhelm, "the great scientist Eugene Steinbach" [Eugen Steinach?], Bishop Charles Palmerston Anderson, Amy Leslie,[11] the Duchess of Teck and her children,[5] Count Ferdinand Zepplin, the queen of Württemberg, King William II of Württemberg, Governor Len Small of Illinois, Professor Steinmetz, Otto H. Kahn, Harold F. McCormick,[16] William Hohenzollern, Emperor Franz Joseph, Franklin Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, Clara Clemens, Maria Jeritza, and Charles Curtis.[10][8] Baroness Wenner worked in oils, pastels, charcoal, and pen and ink.[17]

Notes
  1. Photographs and some records belonging to one "Sternenfels, Adolf von, Freiherr [Baron]" are online at the Baden-Württemberg state archive.[12]

See also

References
  1. "Obituaries: Baroness Violet Wenner, Chicago Tribune 30 Dec 1970, page 18". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  2. FreeBMD. England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.
  3. "Baroness Wenner, Chicago Artist, Dies, Chicago Tribune 08 Dec 1970, page 49". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  4. "W 054/103 Baroness Violet Wenner (von Sternenfels-Wenner, 1883-1970; FAW 4.4) (1910-1970)". Online Catalogue of the State Archives St. Gallen. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  5. "Vienna Studio-Talk by A.S.L.". Studio International. National Magazine Company. 1908. pp. 336–338.
  6. The National Archives and Records Administration; Washington, D.C.; Petitions For Naturalization From the U.s. District Court For the Southern District of New York, 1897-1944; Series: M1972; Roll: 690
  7. The National Archives of the UK (TNA); Kew, Surrey, England; Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891; Class: RG12; Piece: 2820; Folio: 27; Page: 42; GSU roll: 6097930, via Ancestry.com
  8. "Portrait Painter to Speak at Teachers' College, Leader-Telegram 13 Feb 1944, page 4". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  9. "Fashionable Weddings at Alderley Edge, Alderley and Wilmslow and Knutsford Advertiser 08 Sep 1911, page 6". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  10. "Kansas Masons Honor Wichitans, Famous Artist to Paint His Portrait, The Wichita Beacon 08 Jun 1932, page 1". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  11. "The Kansas City Star 15 Apr 1931, page 16". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2023-01-11.
  12. "Sternenfels, Adolf von, Freiherr - Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek". www.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de.
  13. "Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg Abt. Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart - Dokumente". www2.landesarchiv-bw.de. Retrieved 2023-01-11.
  14. "The Alliance Times-Herald 07 May 1940, page 11". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2023-01-11.
  15. "The Los Angeles Times 15 Mar 1931, page 42". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2023-01-11.
  16. "Pegasus Writers Forum Has Royal Meeting on Monday, Berwyn Life 07 Jun 1953, page 3". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  17. "Baroness Visits in City Over This Weekend, The South Bend Tribune 05 Dec 1937, page 20". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2022-12-29.

Further reading
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