(Pless 1818-1897 Semmering) - Prince Eugene sends a messenger to the Emperor, informing him of his victory at the Battle of Zenta, oil on canvas, 132 x 167 cm, framed, c. 1860, (Lu)

Provenance:
Estate of Eduard Ritter von Engerth; the niece of the artist, Lotte Degenhart, née Baroness von Engerth (1889-1983), Perchtoldsdorf.

Catalogued in:
Engerth Ruediger, Edouard Ritter von Engerth (1818.1897), Maler, Lehrer, Galeriedirektor und Kunstschriftsteller, Beiträge zu Leben und Werk, Forschungen und Beiträge zur Wiener StadtGeschichte, vol. 26, Deuticke Verlag, Vienna 1997, p. 49. The present lot is an oil study for the monumental painting of the same name, which Engerth began in 1860 and completed in 1865. Contrary to earlier assumptions, it was not burnt in 1945, and is preserved at the Magyar Nemzeti Museum in Budapest today (inventory no. 92.5 B, oil on canvas 510 X 760 cm). Although the present study was mentioned in the literature as early as 1915, its location could not be hitherto determined. The finished painting represents one of Engerth’s major works and was exhibited in the ‘Redoutensaal’ of the Imperial Palace in 1865. The public received it enthusiastically. In a letter to Engerth, art historian and university professor R. Eitelberger described it as the best history painting by an Austrian artist he had ever seen in Vienna. On 4 October Emperor Francis Joseph I purchased it for the handsome price of 15,000 gulden, with the aim of keeping it at the Royal Palace in Budapest, a place he chose for its historical significance. Thus, it is one of the most expensive paintings Emperor Francis Joseph bought during his reign. It was also one of the paintings selected by the Austrian jury for the Paris World’s Fair in 1867.