In his work, Franz von Stuck created an artistic program that drew on antiquity on the one hand and a revival of Italian Renaissance on the other. These two art heydays and their respective significance for contemporary perception, not only permeated his artistic work, but also extended to the staging of his person as a painter-prince, who revived these high times of artistic production around 1900. He created a type of portrait with clear references to early Italian Renaissance. He revisited Sandro Botticelli's depictions of his model Simonetta Vespucci in profile with artfully draped hair with gold hoops and pearls in his female portraits made in the late 1890s. The profile depiction of Florentine Renaissance was based on portraits of Roman coins and side reliefs. In 1892, he visited Max Klinger in Rome and used his studio for some time - this year also saw the founding of the Munich Secession, for which he designed the poster with the head of Athena in profile in an octagon. His wife Mary Lindpaintner (1865-1929), widow of the Munich doctor Julius Lindpaintner, ultimately became his number one muse and model. The wealthy, educated and well-connected American helped him on his path to the high society, a path he had already pursued since 1895, when he was appointed professor and which culminated in the construction of the prestigious villa in 1887/98. Stuck also emphasized his regal ambitions in the portrait of his wife, who is framed by the slender columns beneath a portico. The reduced color palette in ochre, black and brown tones also refers to the size of the portrait and is to be understood as an allusion to ancient art theory in its maximum expressiveness with minimal means. Despite the minimal movement, her slightly upwardly turned head effectively emphasizes the noble aura of a representative wife, who played a considerable role in Stuck's success. [KT]