Sale: 474 / Art of the 19th Century, Nov. 23. 2018 in Munich Lot 102

 

102
Franz von Stuck
Porträt der Tochter Mary, Ca. 1912.
Oil
Estimate:
€ 15,000 / $ 16,200
Sold:
€ 26,250 / $ 28,350

(incl. surcharge)
Porträt der Tochter Mary. Ca. 1912.
Oil over pencil on canvas, laminated on panel.
Cf. Voss 355/565, 382/571, 384/573, 7 (addenda). Signed in right margin. Verso with a stamp of the Munich art carpentry "G. Oberndorfer" as well as with an old label with a typographic number. 30.8 x 30.8 cm (12.1 x 12.1 in) , octogonal.

PROVENANCE: From the estate of the industrialist/councilor of commerce Adolf Lindgens (1856-1941), Cologne (in possession of the family for more than 100 years).

Our portrait shows Mary Stuck, the illegitimate daughter of Franz von Stuck, wearing a typical Munich costume. The motif, of which several variants exist, always stages Mary as the ideal embodiment of the good-looking Munich girl with a cheeky smile and red cheeks. The girl, who was born as Anna Maria Brandmair, was adopted by Stuck's wife Mary Lindpainter, and finally renamed "Mary". She became a favorite model of her father and consistently had to slip into various historical and local costumes for him. In Stuck's portraits the psychologization of the figure is less in the focus of his artistic interest, it is more about the depiction's decorative effect. This is also underlined by the octagonal arrangement of the picture, which increases the panel's decorative value. For his portraits, as well as for his scenic compositions, Stuck used the modern technology of photography. This not only serves the purpose of finding the right arrangement for the illustration, je also used it as direct template. The photographs served as blueprint, their outlines were scratched onto a paper enlargement in pencil. On the one hand, an exact account of the portrayed person's contours is guaranteed, on the other hand, the production of repetitions and variations of the picture is facilitated. The latest that this method became established in the Munich art scene was by the painter prince Franz von Lenbach, who had been working with this technique systematically since the mid 1870s. Stuck beagn using photographs for portraits probably around 1895, but had already used it for figure studies earlier. He continued to apply this procedure until his last years of creativity. Many photographs of his daughter Mary wer made. Among them one shot of Mary in a local Munich costume from 1906 , which clearly resembles our painting, which very likely was modelled on a photography from the same session. The peculiarity of Stuck's treatment of his photographic template is in the restriction to tracing just a very few sharp lines. This way Stuck determined the actual quintessence of the picture in an early work step but left the execution of details to painting. The use of photography characterized Stuck as a modern artist, who appraised and used the photo as an appropriate aid for the realization of true art - whether in painting, sculpture or architecture. [FS]



102
Franz von Stuck
Porträt der Tochter Mary, Ca. 1912.
Oil
Estimate:
€ 15,000 / $ 16,200
Sold:
€ 26,250 / $ 28,350

(incl. surcharge)