The Gallery of Beauties: 36 portraits, and what the record actually says

Ludwig I commissioned Joseph Karl Stieler to paint them. There are thirty-six. They hang in the inner southern pavilion of the palace, and the source this site works from describes the sitters in one phrase: women from all social classes of Munich. That is the whole of the documented record used here, and this page does not go past it.

What is established. The Schönheitengalerie at Nymphenburg holds 36 portraits, commissioned by Ludwig I from the painter Joseph Karl Stieler, hung in the inner southern pavilion of the palace. The sitters are described as women from all social classes of Munich. The gallery is inside the palace, so the palace ticket and the combination ticket both reach it, and no guiding is included in either: the operator states there are no regular guided tours and sells an audio guide instead.

Commissioned byLudwig I

Painted byJoseph Karl Stieler

How many36 portraits

WhereInner southern pavilion

The sittersFrom all social classes of Munich

On the ticketPalace and combination

Joseph Karl Stieler’s portrait of Auguste Strobl, from the Gallery of Beauties. Joseph Karl Stieler, photograph Lempertz, public domain.

A king, a painter and a commission

Thirty-six portraits by one hand, on one commission, hung together in one room, is a different proposition from a gallery assembled over generations. It was a project rather than a collection, and the effect of the room comes from that: the same painter’s eye applied thirty-six times, at the same scale, in the same frames. Whatever else is said about the gallery, the thing you are actually standing in front of is a single sustained job of work by Stieler.

Why this page names no sitters

Because the record used on this site names none. It says the sitters were women from all social classes of Munich, and it gives the count as thirty-six. A great deal is written elsewhere about who is on those walls, some of it accurate and some of it the kind of story that grows around a royal commission for two centuries, and none of it is sourced well enough to print under a heading that promises facts. The one portrait reproduced on this site is captioned with the name the photograph itself carries.

The gallery is also a fair test of what the entry ticket does and does not give you. Thirty-six faces with no commentary attached is exactly the kind of room where a live guide changes the experience, and the desk does not sell one. Guiding at this palace is the part you bring or buy: every tour we list.

Insider tip

The gallery is in the inner southern pavilion, so it is not on the route somebody takes if they are walking straight through the centre of the palace and out the other side. Find the southern pavilion on the plan before you start.

Seeing it

The palace single ticket reaches it, at under ten euros, and so does the combination ticket. Everybody under eighteen goes in free, and so do students over eighteen from general, vocational and special schools on a valid ID. Hours are 9 am to 6 pm from April to 15 October and 10 am to 4 pm from 16 October to March, with last entry thirty minutes before closing.

What works

Thirty-six portraits by one painter, hung as one commission
Inside the palace, so no separate ticket and no extra queue
Free for under-18s and for students over 18 with valid ID

Worth knowing

No guide comes with the ticket, and a room of faces is the kind of room that most wants one
It is in the inner southern pavilion, off the straight-through route
The operator publishes nothing about individual sitters, so the audio handset is what commentary there is

Palace + carriages

Check dates for a guided visit inside the palace

Free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure on most tours — book now, decide later.

The other room people come for is on the Steinerner Saal, and everything the ticket opens is listed on what you actually walk through.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Gallery of Beauties at Nymphenburg Palace?

A room of 36 portraits in the inner southern pavilion of the palace, commissioned by Ludwig I from the painter Joseph Karl Stieler. The sitters are described as women from all social classes of Munich. It is inside the palace and needs no separate ticket — see tickets and what they cover.

How many portraits are in the Gallery of Beauties?

Thirty-six, all by Joseph Karl Stieler on a single commission from Ludwig I. This site prints no other count and makes no claim about individual sitters beyond the phrase the record uses. What else the palace holds is on what you actually walk through.

Is there a guided tour of the Gallery of Beauties?

Not from the palace. The Bavarian Palace Administration states that there are no regular guided tours; it sells an audio guide in several languages and says group tours in English can be arranged. Guided visits to the palace interior are sold separately by operators, and the ones that go inside are on every tour we list.