Fireworks of the 19th century

Saleh's works are characterized by exotic motifs, as in the painting “Landscape with a View of the Merapi Volcano on Java” (estimate: € 40,000 - 80,000). The work shows Gunung Merapi, a volcano in central Java, as the central motif. The mountain on Java is not only one of the most active volcanoes on the island, but also has a central cultural and spiritual significance in Javanese tradition. The composition follows classic Dutch landscape paintings and is reminiscent of Caspar David Friedrich's works, with a dominant sky that takes up over two thirds of the picture. The work thus combines a European conception of landscape with the exotic landscape of Raden Saleh's homeland. A single rider on a small Javanese horse crosses a simple bridge, emphasizing the sublimity of nature in comparison to man.

The work is accompanied by an expert report by Dr. Werner Kraus and a dendrochronological examination. Due to the periodic eruptions of the volcano, the painting can be dated to the year 1867, when Merapi was inactive. 

His landscapes, snow-covered fields and farmers are usually bathed in a delicate and bright sunlight and look like snapshots captured on canvas. This impressionistic character of his works runs like a common thread through his paintings, drawings and watercolors. The work “After the Winter Hunt” is a characteristic example of this. The naturalistic depiction of the hunters around the warming fire after the hunt conveys a sense of community and tradition.

After his return to St. Petersburg in 1865, he achieved great recognition, represented Russia at world exhibitions and became a member of the Peredvizhniki artists' association. In 1873, Shishkin was appointed professor of landscape painting. His art enjoyed a high level of recognition and popularity, with the important collector Pavel Tret'jakov acquiring several of his works.

The painting “In Nature. Forest Mood on Valaam Island” (estimate: € 20,000 - 25,000), probably painted in the early 1860s, shows Shishkin's search for a general formula that captures the peculiarity of nature in Russia, its infinite expanse and untouched beauty. The “Tsar of the Forest”, as he was called by his contemporaries, is one of the most important representatives of Russian open-air painting.

The roots of Alois Delug's oeuvre lie in naturalistic history painting, with symbolist tendencies being added in the 1890s. Later, he mainly painted portraits; he received many commissions from Austria and Germany, but also from England and the USA.

In the present painting “The Refugees”, the young Alois Delug employs a special artistic trick: The composition is designed in such a way that the viewer himself appears to be part of the group of people hiding in a cave. Those gathered here have their full attention focused on what is happening outside their hiding place, which can be seen through the cave opening on the left edge of the picture and probably also through a gap in the background. The viewer also has to peer over the shoulder of the boy in the green robe to vaguely recognize who is terrifying the group - to the point of fainting: it is the invading Huns who are burning and plundering the village of the refugees.

Alois Delug shows the different emotions of the refugees in this scene: the defensive fright of the boy in the green robe, the care of the woman in the red dress for the fainting woman in the center, the protective, standing woman on the right edge of the picture, who is carrying an infant and to whom a frightened child is clinging. Strong light falls through the entrance to the cave and illuminates the scene as far as the lower right edge of the picture. Alois Delug took up the figure of the fainting woman in the blue dress and the people facing her again two years later in the painting “The Holy Women at the Stations of the Cross”.

At art academies, history painting was regarded as the highest of the art disciplines because it uses a historical example to illustrate timeless human emotions. Thus, “The Refugees” by Alois Delug is of an oppressive topicality, especially today.

However, he also made a name for himself with large-scale murals (Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna) and dioramas (Leipzig: “The Interior of a Harem” and “The Death of Emperor Wilhelm I”). In Munich, he also held a professorship at the Ladies' Academy of the Munich Artists' Association. Franz Simm also enjoyed international success, receiving a medal at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. Works by Franz Xaver Simm are still part of leading museums and collections today.

The present painting is one of Simm's typical narrative genre paintings. “The Interrupted Reading” thrives on the liveliness of the figures and the immediacy of their actions, but also on the grandiose craftsmanship with which Franz Simm depicts individual surfaces. The artful juxtaposition of the slightly hazy salon atmosphere with brilliantly executed surfaces, such as the lady's white silk dress or the samovar, creates a special charm. To ensure that this effect is shown to its best advantage, the artist has indicated on the back of the painting how it should be illuminated.

The elaborate, stuccoed frame, which bears the painter's name, combines with the painting to form a complete work of art. Franz Simm painted the Aubusson carpet in the salon in such a way that it appears to be compressed behind the frame and must therefore have slight folds. This little trick reinforces the impression that the viewer is secretly witnessing this intimate salon scene through the opening of the frame.

After his return to Russia, he lived as a successful artist in Moscow and St. Petersburg. However, the revolution and civil war in his homeland forced Konstantin Gorbatov to emigrate. In 1922, he first settled in Capri, from where he traveled to Italy and other European countries. From 1926 he lived in Berlin. There he joined a circle of compatriots living in exile. In the 1920s and 1930s, Konstantin Gorbatov was well established and had a solid base of collectors, enabling him to maintain his busy travel schedule throughout Europe and as far as the Middle East. He worked with renowned galleries, such as the Galerie Abels in Cologne, which organized a solo exhibition for him in 1931, and the Galerie Vecchio in Leipzig, from whose collection the present painting comes (label on the reverse). With the outbreak of war, Konstantin Gorbatov was subjected to severe repression as a Russian citizen and died impoverished in Berlin in 1945.

The fishing boats off Venice are a typical work by the painter from his time in Italy in the mid-1920s. Venice and the special light atmosphere there particularly fascinated Konstantin Gorbatov and inspired him to create impressive paintings. This balanced and at the same time exciting composition with its splendid colors shows the full mastery of the late Impressionist artist.

Three fishing boats lie close together in front of a harbor pier in Venice. The sails of the three ships are partially colored a striking orange-red. They rise into the sky like pointed red wedges. The sails are painted in a broad, strong brushstroke and, for all their dynamism, provide a balancing counterweight in this composition, in which the waves, the harbor structures and buildings as well as the sky appear in short, quick brushstrokes and reflect the shimmering light of the south. The moving sea surface in the foreground with its dissolved reflections calms down in the background and is separated from the sky by the clear line of the waterfront buildings.