Čís. položky 78


Hans Makart


Hans Makart - Obrazy 19. století

(Salzburg 1840–1884 Vienna) The Death of Cleopatra, executed 1875, old label on the reverse, oil on panel, 122.5 x 83 cm, framed, (W)

Catalogued and illustrated in: Gerbert Frodl, Hans Makart, monograph and catalogue raisonné, published by Residenz, 1974, CR no. 252.

Provenance: Baroness Helene Leitenberger, Vienna (from 1844–1933);
Dorotheum Vienna, auction of the estate of Helene Baroness Leitenberger, 10/11 March 1933, lot 265 (unsold);
1938 Galerie Almas-Dietrich;
inventory of the Führermuseum in Linz (Linz number 474);
Oberfinanzdirektion Munich (Inv. no. 10652) sold 1973,
German private property since that date.

Exhibited: 1935, Secession Vienna, Emperor Francis Joseph Exhibition, no. 81.
Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Ausstellung Hans Makart, 1972, no. 36.

Hans Makart, one of the late 19th century’s most important and influential painters, thereby lending his name to a Viennese cultural epoch, the Makartzeit, concentrated on historical themes ever since his training in Munich. This was in keeping with the period of historicism in which a focus on history played a key role both publicly and in private life. From the end of the 18th through to the late 19th century, history painting was the most respected subject at European academies, and exhibition rooms were filled with paintings whose subject matter was drawn from history and ancient literature. Within this endlessly diverse variety of paintings there developed a real fashion for a new focus on a mythical Orient, interest not only awakened by the exotic and foreign, but also in scenes and figures from ancient history, and above all Cleopatra.
Even at a young age, whilst still working in the studio of the renowned history painter Karl Theodor von Piloty, Hans Makart turned to the subject of Cleopatra. Later in Vienna, in 1874 and 1875, after having already earned a reputation as a “magician of colours”, he executed several paintings with the Egyptian ruler as the central figure. In his large-scale painting Cleopatra On the Nile (Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart), Makart drew inspiration from William Shakespeare, loosely modelling his painting on the play Antony and Cleopatra. And before spending the winter of 1875/76 with artist friends in Egypt, where he executed a series of unusual compositions, he painted The Death of Cleopatra twice; one version a monumental composition with a full-length recumbent figure of the queen (Kassel, Museum), and the second a smaller format, three-quarter length portrait of Cleopatra reclining. This is the present lot: more dramatic than Hans Makart’s other paintings of Cleopatra, the bared breast frozen in movement after the snake, winding itself around her right side, has bitten. Here, as in the Kassel painting, Cleopatra bears the idealised features of the famous Viennese Burgtheater actress Charlotte Wolter, a friend of the painter for whom Makart designed numerous stage costumes over the years. The characteristics of the Makart style are clearly demonstrated in the present lot: in terms of painting technique this is shown in the well-considered contrast between the impasto application of colour (curtains, clothing, belt, jewellery, flowers) and the fine, smooth, almost transparent skin. This contrast is further enhanced in the colouring, the artist lending the whole an erotic, lascivious mood, highlighted by the visible, almost perceptible vulnerability of the body which, amongst its now unimportant luxurious surroundings, is doomed to death.
This painting appears as catalogue number 252 in the book by G. Frodl, Hans Makart, monograph and catalogue raisonné, Salzburg 1974. The painting is also included in the revised edition of the catalogue raisonné currently being compiled by the same author, published by the Belvedere and with support from the Dorotheum.
Gerbert Frodl

We are grateful to Dr. Gerbert Frodl for his assistance in cataloguing this work.

Expert: Dr. Christl Wolf Dr. Christl Wolf
+43-1-515 60-377

19c.paintings@dorotheum.at

16.04.2013 - 18:00

Dosažená cena: **
EUR 757.300,-
Odhadní cena:
EUR 70.000,- do EUR 90.000,-

Hans Makart


(Salzburg 1840–1884 Vienna) The Death of Cleopatra, executed 1875, old label on the reverse, oil on panel, 122.5 x 83 cm, framed, (W)

Catalogued and illustrated in: Gerbert Frodl, Hans Makart, monograph and catalogue raisonné, published by Residenz, 1974, CR no. 252.

Provenance: Baroness Helene Leitenberger, Vienna (from 1844–1933);
Dorotheum Vienna, auction of the estate of Helene Baroness Leitenberger, 10/11 March 1933, lot 265 (unsold);
1938 Galerie Almas-Dietrich;
inventory of the Führermuseum in Linz (Linz number 474);
Oberfinanzdirektion Munich (Inv. no. 10652) sold 1973,
German private property since that date.

Exhibited: 1935, Secession Vienna, Emperor Francis Joseph Exhibition, no. 81.
Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Ausstellung Hans Makart, 1972, no. 36.

Hans Makart, one of the late 19th century’s most important and influential painters, thereby lending his name to a Viennese cultural epoch, the Makartzeit, concentrated on historical themes ever since his training in Munich. This was in keeping with the period of historicism in which a focus on history played a key role both publicly and in private life. From the end of the 18th through to the late 19th century, history painting was the most respected subject at European academies, and exhibition rooms were filled with paintings whose subject matter was drawn from history and ancient literature. Within this endlessly diverse variety of paintings there developed a real fashion for a new focus on a mythical Orient, interest not only awakened by the exotic and foreign, but also in scenes and figures from ancient history, and above all Cleopatra.
Even at a young age, whilst still working in the studio of the renowned history painter Karl Theodor von Piloty, Hans Makart turned to the subject of Cleopatra. Later in Vienna, in 1874 and 1875, after having already earned a reputation as a “magician of colours”, he executed several paintings with the Egyptian ruler as the central figure. In his large-scale painting Cleopatra On the Nile (Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart), Makart drew inspiration from William Shakespeare, loosely modelling his painting on the play Antony and Cleopatra. And before spending the winter of 1875/76 with artist friends in Egypt, where he executed a series of unusual compositions, he painted The Death of Cleopatra twice; one version a monumental composition with a full-length recumbent figure of the queen (Kassel, Museum), and the second a smaller format, three-quarter length portrait of Cleopatra reclining. This is the present lot: more dramatic than Hans Makart’s other paintings of Cleopatra, the bared breast frozen in movement after the snake, winding itself around her right side, has bitten. Here, as in the Kassel painting, Cleopatra bears the idealised features of the famous Viennese Burgtheater actress Charlotte Wolter, a friend of the painter for whom Makart designed numerous stage costumes over the years. The characteristics of the Makart style are clearly demonstrated in the present lot: in terms of painting technique this is shown in the well-considered contrast between the impasto application of colour (curtains, clothing, belt, jewellery, flowers) and the fine, smooth, almost transparent skin. This contrast is further enhanced in the colouring, the artist lending the whole an erotic, lascivious mood, highlighted by the visible, almost perceptible vulnerability of the body which, amongst its now unimportant luxurious surroundings, is doomed to death.
This painting appears as catalogue number 252 in the book by G. Frodl, Hans Makart, monograph and catalogue raisonné, Salzburg 1974. The painting is also included in the revised edition of the catalogue raisonné currently being compiled by the same author, published by the Belvedere and with support from the Dorotheum.
Gerbert Frodl

We are grateful to Dr. Gerbert Frodl for his assistance in cataloguing this work.

Expert: Dr. Christl Wolf Dr. Christl Wolf
+43-1-515 60-377

19c.paintings@dorotheum.at


Horká linka kupujících Po-Pá: 10.00 - 17.00
kundendienst@dorotheum.at

+43 1 515 60 200
Aukce: Obrazy 19. století
Typ aukce: Salónní aukce
Datum: 16.04.2013 - 18:00
Místo konání aukce: Wien | Palais Dorotheum
Prohlídka: 06.04. - 16.04.2013


** Kupní cena vč. poplatku kupujícího a DPH

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