Sale: 422 / Old Masters and Art of the 19th Century, May 22. 2015 in Munich Lot 30

 

30
Heinrich Bürkel
Rauferei vor einem Wirtshaus, Um 1853/1856.
Oil on canvas
Estimate:
€ 18,000 / $ 19,440
Sold:
€ 33,750 / $ 36,450

(incl. surcharge)
Rauferei vor einem Wirtshaus. Um 1853/1856.
Oil on canvas.
Bühler/Krückl 160. Signed lower left. 30 x 43.5 cm (11.8 x 17.1 in).
With Austrian stamp "Zentralstelle für Denkmalschutz im Bundesmin. f. Unterricht" both on verso of canvas and stretcher. Stretcher with number "K 218" in black and other numbers and labels. [CB].

PROVENANCE: Austria, presumably private ownership (the painting was exported from Austria between 1934 and April 1938, see stamp of historic monuments protection authority on verso).
Galerie Almas, owner Maria Almas-Dietrich, Munich (before June 1939).
Private collection Hitler or collection Imperial Chancellory at Führer Headquarter, Munich (presumably acquired from Galerie Almas).
Mining plant Altaussee, Austria (removed in 1944).
Central Collecting Point, Munich (registered on 30 June, 1945).
Ownership Federal Republic of Germany (the Allies handed the work over to the Bavarian Prime Minister on 10 June, 1949).
Lempertz, Cologne, 472nd auction, 14 March, 1963, lot 122 (with black and white illu. in cat.).
Weinmüller, Munich art auctioneer Rudolf Neumeister, auction no. 98, 1 - 3 December, 1965, cat. 160, lot 1393 (with colro illu. in catalog, plate 2).
Collection Max Geiger.
An inquiry at the Federal Office for Central Services and Unresolved Property Issues (BADV) and at the Federal Archive in Koblenz has not brought forth further previous owners. Neither the Art Loss Register, Londo or the Lost Art Coordination Office, Magdeburg had any third party claims at teh time of the catalog's completion.

LITERATURE: Ludwig von Bürkel, Heinrich Bürkel (1802-1869). Ein Malerleben der Biedermeierzeit, München 1940, p. 150, no. 678.

The "Rauferei vor der Bergschänke" (Brawl at the Mountain Inn) was made in the mid 1850s and is a great document of Bürkel's mastery at the peak of his artistic creation. The motif is recurrent in his oeuvre (cf. catalog raisonné Bühler/Krückl 155-166) and is also part of a larger work complex. Bürkel repeated the basic motif of the mountain inn many times, however, he always combined it with new and individual elements like hunting scenes, parties, shooting matches, hoof smiths, council meetings or this very popular humorist motif of the brawl. With every new painting the artist also varied the arrangement of his numerous figures and animals, as well as the background landscape. The inn, however, is usually in left or right of the image, the group of persons can usually be found in the center, just as it is the case here with the brawling men. The arriving carriage in front of the inn, the roused chicken and the chairs and table knocked over in the brawl enliven the scene. The tor Alps in the background with mighty cumulus clouds above them tower over the scene.



30
Heinrich Bürkel
Rauferei vor einem Wirtshaus, Um 1853/1856.
Oil on canvas
Estimate:
€ 18,000 / $ 19,440
Sold:
€ 33,750 / $ 36,450

(incl. surcharge)