MUNICH.- No matter whether earsplitting or heartbreaking it's the good will that counts. In Franz von Stucks oil painting Dissonanz the teacher is in great need of a strong will, while it is hard for the observer to refrain from smirking. The likeable motif will be called up in the auction of 19th Century Art at
Ketterer Kunst in Munich on 24 November.
Apart from that, Franz von Stuck is also represented with the painting Scherzo from 1909, which has also been estimated at 30,00040,000. In Scherzo the artist creates an exemplary Utopia in which man is liberated from repression through sexuality. The focus of his oil painting Iphigenie auf Tauris, which has been estimated at 80,000-120,000, is also on the examination of the relationship between man and woman. Next to two works on paper, an Amazone from 1897 will be called up. The bronze puts more emphasis on the athletic than the erotic aspect of the spear throwing warrior. The estimate is at 15,000-20,000.
Suspense in the salesroom is guaranteed when Julien Duprés Heuernte will be called up Estimated at 30,000-40,000, the motif is one of the artists most popular ones. Unlike it is the case with his role model Jean-François Millet, Dupré did not put the arduous farm labor in the focus of his paintings. The young farm girl on the sun-filled field seems jaunty, the glistening hay reflects the sunlight and creates an impression of easiness. Solely the turned-up sleeves and the strong body that jams the pitchfork into the stack of hay suggest the labors physical effort.
Works from Karl Hagemeister, who contributes several objects to the auctions range of offers, mirror the extraordinary charm of landscape depictions. The two top works are the two oil paintings Herbst III and Meereswogen that will be called up with an estimate of 25,000-35,000 each.
Jean-Léon Gérômes oil painting Arnaute buvant from 1856 will enter the race with the same estimate. It is a document of the artists weakness for oriental subjects and his fascination for a hyperrealistic style showing details in an almost photographic precision. The Arnaut is an Albanian mercenary in service for the Osman Empire. They came to Egypt in the late 18th century to fight the French troops and found a new home there. The best known variant of the theme presumably is Gérômes painting Arnautes jouant aux échecs, today in possession of the Wallace Collection in London.
Another top name is Ludwig Adrian Richter, one of the 19th centurys most acclaimed German illustrators, who is represented with an oil painting that presumably remained unfinished owed to an eye disease. His work Hirten am Feuer (Abendlandschaft), which will be called up with an estimate of 15,000-20,000, emanates a deep and calm love for nature.
The range of offers is topped off by several works from Friedrich Kallmorgen (estimates up to 24,000), Jan Chelminskis oil painting Große höfische Jagdgesellschaft (estimate: 20,000-30,000), the work Sabinerhütten im Sabinergebirge (estimate: 18,000-24,000) by Valentin Ruths and by works from other acclaimed artists like Wilhelm Busch, Heinrich Bürkel, Ludwig von Hofmann, Emil Paul Jacobs, Wilhelm von Kobell, Alexander Koester, Adolph von Menzel, Charles Johann Palmié and Heinrich von Zügel.