Franz Xaver Winterhalter, one of the most sought-after and productive artists of the 19th century, developed various types of portraits in strategically composed portraiture programmes, which shaped the image of rulers and rulers' wives across different political systems. This example is taken in order to discuss how recognition of rulership is conferred in concrete terms, and to what extent the visualisation of claims to power is dependent on office and gender. The author identifies three reproducible patterns of legitimation, defining new terms of investigation - fashion, regalia and virtue portraits - that will assist future research across epochs.