These Portraits Better Than a Facelift

Portraits by the master of painterly flattery offer rich view of 19th century royals

Centuries before photoshop, camera filters and green screen backgrounds, there was Franz X. Winterhalter portrait painter to royalty, and he made the emperors and empresses, princes and princesses look damn good.

While his name might not be familiar to all but the most ardent portrait-lover, he was not only the painter that mid-19th century monarchs relied on to depict their best side for posterity, but he became, in the words of Museum of Fine Arts, Houston director Gary Tinterow, the “arbiter of style” for the age.

Now a remarkable new exhibition at the MFAH, High Society: The Portraits of Franz X. Winterhalter, focuses not only on Winterhalter’s mastery of the portrait form but also his influence on courtly fashion. Along with 45 paintings by Winterhalter, the exhibition features a 10 garment sampling of the highest fashion of the era, including several gowns designed by Charles Frederick Worth, the father of haute couture. The dresses of Worth and his contemporaries are placed in complement to the paintings throughout the galleries of the exhibition because as Tinterow explains, “Worth and Winterhalter conspired together to create these extraordinary portraits.”

During a recent walk-through of High Society, led by the exhibition’s organizer Helga Aurisch, curator of European art at the MFAH, I realized that because of the fashion elements as well as the identity of Winterhalter’s subjects, the exhibition enthralls on many different levels. Come to High Society for the portrait art and stunning gowns but delve deeper for history lessons filled with power, romance and tragedy.

High society as high art
Strolling among the paintings, it’s possible to simply revel in these beautiful depictions of the human form without even pondering that many of these particular humans were the most powerful men and women in Europe at the time. Winterhalter was brilliant at painting the details and intricacies of faces and hands, while depicting the clothing, especially the gowns with open, almost sketching brushwork.

“[Winterhalter] is painting in such an Impressionist fashion already. He is so forward looking in his technique. It’s the wonderful combination of this finely painted head and shoulders and hand, but then a really open and breathtaking fashion sense,” explained Aurisch. Adding further insight on Winterhalter’s depiction of these dresses, many of which were designed by Worth, she noted, “One of the things that makes him so good at fashion is that he captures the essence, just as he captures the essence of the people, but he leaves a lot to the imagination.”

A magnificent history lesson
Don’t let all the pretty faces fool you. Winterhalter painted the who’s who among the European royals and aristocrats of the 19th century. Admire the art of the exhibition, but do read the wall texts throughout the galleries as they give insight on the alliances, marriages, births and deaths inside the royal courts.

With his portraitures, Winterhalter records in painting one of the most opulent periods of European history, a kind of dazzling moment before the world and monarchies completely changed in the early 20th century. The paintings give literal face to the names and dates from history books and the real world game of thrones that eventually led to World War I.

High society as us
Though there’s not a duck face pose in sight, it’s easy to see some connections with these royal portrait subjects and our contemporary culture. Winterhalter was beloved by his imperial and aristocrat sitters because he made them look like a more beautiful version of themselves but still recognizable.

“He has this knack of capturing a likeness but he made it just a little bit better,” explained Aurisch. “He just saw the good and beautiful in people. What you see in a lot of the paintings is an empathy for the person he was portraying.”

While we might never know the grand splendor of the time, it’s almost reassuring that human vanity, and the need to gift to the world — whether the world wants it or not —with some kind of idealized record of ourselves, hasn’t changed that much with the passing centuries. Though our imagined version of Queen Victoria might be of the generally-not-amused one, she did commission some 120 works from Winterhalter. After seeing her portraits by the artist, I have to wonder if we put young Vicky in a time machine and hit 2016 if she wouldn’t have her own Instagram account within a day.

No matter if we declare ourselves emperor of Mexico like Ferdinand Maximilian, whose portrait hangs near the end of the exhibition, and thereby becoming tangentially responsible for Cinco de Mayo or if we’re a 21st century museum-goer wanting to sneak a selfie with poor Max (always ask a guard before you snap), we all want to see our recorded image. And whether done by paint or camera, wouldn’t we all like that recorded image to be just a touch prettier then we really are? High Society illustrates that in this one aspect those kings, queens and rulers of the world were just like us.

Franz X. Winterhalter, Édouard André, 1857, oil on canvas, Musée Jacquemart-André, Institut de France, Paris.

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MFAH Courtesy Photo

Franz X. Winterhalter, Édouard André, 1857, oil on canvas, Musée Jacquemart-André, Institut de France, Paris.

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fall theater preview

Sneak peek at the 2026 fall performance slates for 15 Houston companies

Theatre Under the Stars presents The Music Man

Photo courtesy of Theatre Under the Stars

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For theater and performing arts lovers, late summer is the most wonderful time of the year, as stage companies across the city begin their new 2026-2027 seasons. But before the curtains rise, most of those companies also give us the gift of Houston Theater Week and all those buy-one-get-one-free discounts.

To get ready, CultureMap has put together this fall theater guide with the opening shows and dates for each company, as well as taking an early look at what the rest of the fall and holidays will bring. So grab those discounted tickets for a fall filled with blockbuster musicals, dramas, comedies, as well as lots of classics and audience favorites.

A.D. Players opens with Holly Street (August 19)
The spiritual and family friendly theater company began its season a bit early with a poignant world premiere set in small town Kentucky in the 1940s after World War II. Holly Street tells the story of two sisters at Christmas time and two unexpected guests.

The company takes a break for a month and then offers one of the funniest, yet heartwarming holiday plays for all ages withThe Best Christmas Pageant Ever, the beloved comedy about a children’s play that goes wrong.

Houston Ballet opens with Pecos Bill (September 11)
HB says howdy to a great fall season with a mixed rep program that holds something for all dance tastes. The performance includes Stanton Welch’s rollicking ballet version of cowboy folklore, Pecos Bill’s adventures. Performances also feature George Balanchine’s elegant and dynamic Symphonie Concertante, and an HB debut, Meadow, a work by celebrated choreographer Lar Lubovitch.

For the first full story ballet of the fall (September 24), HB brings the opulence of Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s now classic and tragic Mamon, the doomed love story between an irresistibly beautiful femme fatale and impoverished student. Of course, in November, it wouldn’t be the holidays without Stanton Welch’s version of The Nutcracker Ballet that brings the story’s focus back to the adventurous Clara.

4th Wall Theatre opens with Proof (September 11)
The first of several Pulitzer Prize-winning plays produced this season comes from this intimate stage. Playwright David Auburn’s Proof is the story of the daughter of a genius mathematician who might have inherited both his aptitude for math and his mental instability. The play travels back and forth through the present and past to study the formulas of family, loss, and love

Over the years, 4th Wall has produced several wild and moving adaptations of Jane Austen novels. This year, it will present Are the Bennet Girls Ok? This new version of the Pride and Prejudice story, that had a recent Off-Broadway debut to much critical praise, tells the Bennet girls’ marriage quests from their mother’s point of view.

Main Street Theater opens with Cold War Choir Practice (September 12)
Also earning lots of recent off-Broadway buzz, this genre-defying comedy with music is one of the most intriguing picks for the fall. In Reagan’s America, a young girl is embroiled in intrigue when her estranged uncle, a prominent Black conservative, brings his mysteriously ill, white wife home for the holidays and forces long-simmering tensions within the family to boil.

From Victorian England to a fast food joint, theaters across the world and certainly in Houston have put Dickens’s Christmas Carol into a multitude of settings. For the holidays, MST invites Houstonians to a Dublin pub for An Irish Carol, where rich owner David has lost touch with his own humanity in the interest of self-protection and material success. Now on Christmas Eve, a voice from the past will ask David to look at his relationships in the past, present, and possible future to perhaps change his life for the better.

Theatre Under the Stars opens presenting The Music Man (September 15)
TUTS changes its usual mix of more self-produced shows than touring shows, leaning in on presenting this season. The season begins with this classic musical comedy about a charming con man who gets conned himself by small town sincerity and love.

The touring hits continue in October with Mrs. Doubtfire, the musical based on the Robin Williams comedy about a divorced man who disguises himself as a British nanny to take care of his kids. Then for the holidays, TUTS brings back its own leviathan-sized production of Disney’s The Little Mermaid for under the sea family fun with a cast filled with Houston singing sensations, including students from the TUTS schools.

Rec Room opens with Amadeus (September 17)
The east-ish downtown theater company decided to take some time off after last year's productions of Angels in American to switch from a calendar year season to the traditional fall/spring season that most Houston companies use. Now they’re back and celebrating their 10 year anniversary with plays Houstonians haven’t seen in quite a while, or ever, on a local professional stage. The season begins with the now classic 20th century play about the (mostly one-sided) rivalry between composers Antonio Salieri and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and its exploration of jealousy and the nature of genius.

For the ultimate holiday show counter programming, Rec Room will produce a new adaptation of Nobel Prize-winning Italian playwright Dario Fo’s The Accidental Death of an Anarchist. It’s Christmas time at the police station, as Rec Room reimagines Fo’s groundbreaking political farce of the 1970s as a contemporary American satire infused with detective noir, Cold War paranoia, and sharp absurdity.

Ensemble Theatre opens with Purpose (September 18)
Ensemble celebrates its 50th season with this recent Best Play Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner by Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins about a prominent and political Black family, the Jenkins. While the patriarch was a leader in the Civil Rights movement, the adult sons are having trouble living up to their father’s legacy. Generational aspirations come to a comic clash for one particularly awkward but purposeful family dinner.

For the holidays, the company brings back an audience favorite, the joyful and soulful A Motown Christmas, which melds Motown hits and choreography with traditional holiday classics.

Stages opens with Come From Away (September 19)
Based on the true story, this poignant and hopeful musical tells the story of a small town in Newfoundland that rallied together to host thousands of stranded international travelers after planes were grounded September 11, 2001. It’s been a few years since Come From Away toured nationally, so Houstonians are definitely looking forward to seeing Stages begin its season with an intimate and homegrown production.

In October, Stages jumps from a musical with a large cast of characters to The Roommate, the Jen Silverman comedy about two 50-something women with very different personalities and life experiences who begin living together. For the holidays, it brings back another audience favorite with all the music, fun, and wild plots found in The Great American Trailer Park Christmas Musical.

Alley Theatre opens fall with Romeo and Juliet (September 25)
While technically the thrilling Girl on the Train began its 26-27 season, the Alley heats up the fall with the play that originated the term star-crossed lovers and is arguably the greatest romantic tragedy in literature. The entire resident acting company will take the stage in Shakespeare’s wrenching tale of young lovers crushed between their warring families.

In October, the Alley leaps from a classic of world literature to a world premiere satire with Uhuru. This play explores very contemporary themes of access and identity as it follows a group of climbers up Mount Kilimanjaro. Uhuru was developed as part of the Alley All New play reading season. For the holidays, look for both Alley artistic director, Rob Melrose’s, lovely adaptation of A Christmas Carol as well as its very contemporary Texas version of The Night Shift Before Christmas.

Broadway at the Hobby Center opens with The Sound of Music (September 29)
Musical lovers might want to see if the Hobby Center will rent a room this fall, because the TUTS and Broadway combined schedules will fill Sarofim Hall with the sound of music almost every week, including the actual Sound of Music. One of the most beloved musicals of all time, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein’s story of the von Trapp family and the woman who brought music into their lives tours the country again with new direction from three-time Tony Award winner Jack O’Brien (Hairspray).

Then, just in time for spooky season, the ghost-est with the mostest, the irrepressible Beetlejuice, returns to haunt Houston after being a surprising comic hit a few seasons ago. Then, the Tony Award-winning Buena Vista Social Club arrives. Depicting the backstage story of the Grammy-winning album of the same name, the show transports audiences into the heart of Cuba, beyond the glitz of the Tropicana into the soul of the music.

Houston Grand Opera opens with Susannah (October 23)
Continuing its centenary celebration for the great American composer Carlisle Floyd, HGO opens its season with this tragic beauty of an opera inspired by Floyd’s childhood as a minister’s son. With a score infused with revival hymns and Appalachian folksong, the opera depicts life in a small Tennessee town and the gossip, judgement, and hypocrisy that leads to the ruin of one innocent woman.

HGO elevates spooky season with upGounod’s masterpiece Faust in late October. This production from acclaimed Scottish director David McVicar reimagines Faust as a tormented composer in Belle Époque Paris, before making a deal with the devil for youth and earthly pleasures.

Other fall debuts

While it might only be producing one show this fall, Houstonians still have these plays from some of the city's mid-sized and smaller companies on their must-see lists. In early September, Mildred’s Umbrella gets mad with Jen Silverman’s Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties, a sharp comedy with its synopsis in the title as it depicts the lives of five very different women all named Betty. The recently announced Catastrophic Theatre season scheduled the majority of its shows in 2027, but in September the company will revive Eugene Ionesco’s epic absurdest play, Rhinoceros, about a small town whose citizens begin to transform into a herd of giant horned mammals.

In mid-October, Dirt Dogs presents one of those great dinner parties from hell plays with Donald Margulies’ Pulitzer Prize-winning Dinner with Friends about one couple’s divorce that leads their best friends to question their own marriages. Also in October, Classical Theatre opens its season with one of George Bernard Shaw’s wittiest works from his “Plays Pleasant” collection, Arms and the Man, about a young woman who has romanticized war until she decides to shelter a war-weary enemy soldier.

Photo courtesy of Theatre Under the Stars

Theatre Under the Stars presents The Music Man