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A precious gift - Major Waldmüller painting sold at Dorotheum Auction
Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller
Carlo Bossoli
Anton Romako
Olga Wisinger-Florian
Austria's most famous Biedermeier painter Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller first gave the art world his Charitable Gift („Die milde Gabe“) back in 1850. Now, on 1st April 2009, during the auction of "19th Century Painting" at the Vienna Dorotheum, an art collector was happy to pay 306.300 Euro for this oil-on-wood painting.
Untarnished by the art market, this is a genre painting of the finest quality where the artist obviously had a higher aim than the mere representation of something he observed. Waldmüller himself elaborates on this point in his „Andeutungen zur Belebung der vaterländischen bildenden Kunst“ (Some ideas on the enlivenment of patriotic fine art): "The artist (…) will at all times seek to affect not merely the eye but also the viewer's emotions, as this is art's primary goal". (Cat. No.336).
Prominent proponents of Austrian Impressionism continue to produce an enthusiastic response; as the lively interest in Olga Wisinger-Florian's „Garten“ - a sun-drenched scene with flowers and vegetable plots evoking the mood of a bright summer's day - once again demonstrated by selling for four times the estimate, at 174.500 Euro (Cat. No.482).
Likewise quadrupling expectations, the catalogue-cover lot of this suspense-packed and highly competitive auction, Carlo Bossoli's Market Scene in Rome's Piazza Navona eventually rose to 156.800 Euro from its original estimate of 40.000 to 50.000 Euro („Markttreiben auf der Piazza Navona in Rom“, Cat. No.307). The gouache depicts the busy square in great detail, combining historic authenticity with an almost impressionistic representation of one of Rome's most beautiful squares.
After having been stored in a rustic wardrobe for several decades, Anton Romako's pair of important paintings „Die Weilburg bei Baden“ and „Der Blick auf die Ruine Rauenstein“, now found a new place in the sun at this Dorotheum auction for 104.000 and 49.000 Euro respectively. (Cat. No.473, 472).
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 | Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, € 306.300 |
| Olga Wisinger-Florian, € 174.050 |
| Carlo Bossoli, € 156.800 |
| Anton Romako, € 104.000 |
 | Top Lots, 19th Century Paintings |
