Of Dead Hares and Other Things

Hamburg, 09 October 2007, (kk) - Adriaen van Utrecht’s “Küchenstillleben mit erlegtem Wild und Gemüse” [“Kitchen Still Life with Game and Vegetables”], carrying an estimate of € 40 000-60 000, is one of the important works to be sold at the Ketterer Kunst auction of Old Masters & Art of the 19th Century / Marine Art to be held in Hamburg on 27 October 2007. The painting dates from the latter half of the 1640s and is comparable to the version dated 1648 in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. The Flemish animal and still life painter Jan van Utrecht preferred to work with a dark palette, which places him close to Jan Fyt. Typical of van Utrecht is the extremely sculptural handling. The dead hare seems to be staring straight into the viewer’s eyes from his central position.

Another work that is bound to cause quite a stir in the auction room is a watercolor over pencil by the great writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: carrying an estimate of € 50 000-70 000 , “Römische Villa mit Ausblick auf die Campagna” [“Roman Villa with a View of the Campagna”] dates from his celebrated Italian journey (1786-1788) and, needless to say, is one of the very few works from the hand of the Enlightenment polymath and versatile author to have ever appeared on the art market. The past thirty years have seen only five Goethe* paintings and sketches offered for sale.

At only half that estimate (€ 25 000-35 000), an oil painting (c. 1700) by Jan or Robert Griffier, “Berglandschaft mit Anlegeplatz bei einem Dorf” [“Mountain Landscape with Landing-Place near a Village”], is remarkable for a rich panoply of staffage figures and boats.

“Ansicht von Wolfsegg” [“View of Wolfsegg”], a watercolour by Johann Georg von Dillis, is estimated at € 20 000-30 000. This is a compellingly fresh impression of scenery, which the artist - far ahead of his time - has captured by working directly from nature. Apart from his virtuoso handling of several draughtsmanly techniques, the artist has boldly left his corrections in place, which makes this work particularly exciting. Thus the individual phases of the creative process have remained visible to make this watercolor even more lively.

In addition, the Old Masters division is also featuring a round dozen works by the Dutch master Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, including “La négresse couchée” (estimate: € 9000-12 000) and ten Albrecht Dürer prints carrying estimates of up to € 10 000.

The Art of the 19th Century division is leading off with a Franz von Defregger portrait in oils. His “Porträt Franz von Lenbach” links up with the fluid style Defregger favoured in the 1870s. This portrait is an empathetic psychogram of his colleague, who had died only a few years before. The estimate is € 20 000-30 000.
The estimate (€ 22 000-26 000) for Heinrich von Zügel’s “Heidschnucken” [“Grey Heath Sheep”] in oils (c. 1900) is in a similar range. The artist has captured the mood of a rough moor landscape and its characteristic animals with a masterly hand.
A more playful animal painting is Julius II Adam’s “Katzenfamilie” [“Cat Family”], meticulously executed in oils c. 1890. Revealing the painter’s predilection for detail, it shows the artist lavishing the same attention on a fly and the fringes of the carpet as he does on his charming subjects, the kittens. Julius II Adam was the scion of a celebrated Munich family of animal painters and was known as “the Cat Raphael”. Measuring 31.2 x 45 cm, this delightful work carries an estimate of € 18 000-24 000.

Alongside a whisked pencil drawing by Adolph von Menzel, “Dame mit Hut” [“Lady Wearing a Hat”] (estimate: € 18.000-24.000), a Friedrich Preller the Younger oil painting, “Tivoli” (estimate: € 6000-8000), and “Mädchen aus Chioggia” [“Girl from Chioggia”] by Eugen von Blaas (estimate: € 10 000-12 000), other works featured in this division are by Willy Moralt, Carl Morgenstern, Augustin Alexandre Thierriat and Wilhelm Trübner.
In the Marine Art division, names to be reckoned with are Hugo Schnars-Alquist, whose 1920 “Vollschiff auf bewegter See” [“Vessel in Full Rig in Rough Seas”], ca 1920, enters the lists carrying an estimate of € 5000-6000, Hans Bohrdt, Julius Gregersen and Johannes Holst.
In the North German Artists section two great landscape paintings by Rudolf Höckner (estimate: € 8000-10 000 each) are noteworthy as areworks by Thomas Herbst and Max and Theodor Kuchl.

Pre-sale viewings of selected works have been scheduled for the following dates and times:
11-12 October, 11 am-19 Uhr
13-14 October, 11 am-4 pm at Ketterer Kunst, 70 Fasanenstrasse, Berlin
16-18 October, 11 am-5 pm at Ketterer Kunst, 61 Prinzregentenstrasse, Munich
All works will be shown:
20-24 October, 11 am-5 pm except Sunday
25 October, by appointment at Ketterer Kunst, 1 Am Meßberg, Hamburg

The auction begins: 27 October 2007 at 10 am, Ketterer Kunst, 1 Am Meßberg, Hamburg

Press enquiries:
Ketterer Kunst
Prinzregentenstraße 61
81675 München
Michaela Derra
phone: 089-55244-152 (Fax: -166)
E-mail: m.derra@kettererkunst.de

Since it was founded in 1954, Ketterer Kunst has been firmly established in the front ranks of auction houses dealing in art and rare books. While our Munich headquarters in the Prinz-Alphons Palais is responsible for the two traditional annual auctions of Modern Art & Post War, the Meßberghof in Hamburg is the venue for two traditional auctions a year, each based on the following fields: Old Masters and 19th-Century Art /Marine Art and Rare Books - Autographs - Manuscripts - Decorative Prints as well as Modern Art & Post War, with a focus on works on paper. In addition, exhibitions, special and benefit auctions for charity as well as live auctions online are regular events at Ketterer Kunst.

This release was published on openPR.