Lot 1607 Rα

Christian Landenberger studied at the Munich Art Academy, firstly under Franz von Defregger, but was later influenced by impressionism and artists such as Wilhelm Leibl, Fritz von Uhde and Max Liebermann. He was also among the founding members of the Vienna Secession in 1892. Later, in 1904, he became Professor for technical painting at Stuttgart, where Oskar Schlemmer also taught. This work shows a series of erotic scenes painted by Landenberger in 1914 (cf. Höfchen 1983, pg. 296f). The pastel tones evoke a southern atmosphere. The scene is reminiscent of the Harem scenes of French orientalism, such as those of Eugène Delacroix and Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, but also of Italian Renaissance depictions of Mars and Venus.