Lot 1243 Nα

The Hamburg born artist Ferdinand Brütt began his studies at Weimar Kunstschule in 1870. His teachers included the narrative painter Ferdinand Pauwels, who also taught Max Liebermann, as well as Albert Baur. Brütt worked in Düsseldorf for 22 years, before moving to Kronberg in Taunus, where he developed a looser, Impressionist style. The present oil sketch, which can be dated to around 1899, is a product of this phase. The work is one of three designs which Brütt made for a competition for the decoration of Hamburg town hall.
Hammonia, an allegory of the city of Hamburg, is depicted on the right. She holds a sword aloft in her right hand and is shown speaking to the citizens of her town. The present oil sketch was included in the catalogue raissoné of a publication accompanying the exhibition of Ferdinand Brütt's works in the Museum Giersch in Frankfurt a. M. in 2007.