Wenceslas Cifka (Tscheraditz, Bohemia, then Austrian Empire, 1811 - Lisbon, 1884) “Portrait of Queen Mary II of England, in royal attire.” Painted in enamel on copper. Signed and titled on the back. 20 x 17 cm. Based on the engraving published circa 1689-1694 by Peter Vanderbank (Vandrebanc) after the painting by Sir Godfrey Kneller Bt, kept in the National Portrait Gallery (reference no. NPG D32780). Wenceslau Cifka, also known as Václav Cífka, a versatile artist, arrived in Portugal in 1836 on the occasion of the marriage of Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Queen Maria II. He established himself mainly as a landscape painter at the Portuguese royal court. Gifted in the arts, and under Ferdinand's influence, he became a regular at auctions, acquiring important collections for the king's gallery. However, it was above all as an artist that he made his greatest contribution to Portugal. As a draftsman, lithographer, photographer, painter, ceramist and enameler, he left remarkable ceramic pieces and very special lithographs and enamels. He was one of the pioneers of photography in Portugal.  He was also a pioneer of photographic techniques, he started using the daguerreotype in the 1840s and set up his studio at Rua Direita das Necessidades, nº 31 in Lisbon. He is the photographer of the first photographs of members of the royal family, who until then had only been portrayed by painters, starting with Ferdinand II, father of Pedro V. He is considered to be the first publisher of stereoscopic views in Portugal. Among his disciples were Carlos Relvas, Francisco Augusto Gomes and João Paulo Cordeiro Júnior. He was appointed photographer to the Royal Household and traveled around Europe with the King, specifically in 1854, to update and perfect his techniques in London, Paris and Berlin. As a friend and protector, King Ferdinand acquired most of his work and is represented in much of it, whether in photography or ceramics.  His love of ceramics led Cifka to devote himself almost exclusively to artistic earthenware. At the end of his career he joined the Constância ceramics factory, where he specialized in glazes and ceramics. He participated in several exhibitions, at the Lisbon Industrial Exhibition in 1849, at the Philanthropic Exhibition of the Arsenal of the Navy in 1851, at the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1867 and 1878, among others. He was awarded the Gold Medal at the Portuguese Exhibition in Rio de Janeiro in 1879. He held several royal posts, among them that of Photographer of the Royal Household in 1855, Reporter of the Royal Chamber in 1859 and was named Knight of the Order of Christ in 1864. After his death, the artist's work was auctioned by his son Fernando Augusto Cifka and dispersed among private collections and institutions. A catalog was published for the occasion “ Leilão das Collecções de Gravuras, Livros ilustrados, Louças de faiança e da China, India, etc., etc., do fallecido Sr. Wenceslau Cifka, na Rua 24 de Julho 460, 1º andar (Aterro) a começar em 26 de Junho de 1884. Lisboa”. In the 20th century, there have been several exhibitions dedicated to Cífka held in Portugal, among which we highlight: “Wenceslau Cifka. Ceramist, Lithographer and Enameller”, 1949, National Palace of Pena in Sintra, Portugal. Edited catalog. “9ª Exposição Temporária. Desenhos do Album Cifka”, 1948, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga. Lisbon. Edited catalog. “Cifka - Obra Cerâmica”, 1993 -1994, Lisbon, Museu Nacional do Azulejo, - Instituto Português de Museus. Reference bibliography: https://arquivomunicipal3.cm-lisboa.pt/x-arqweb/Result.aspx?id=66220&type=Autoridade