Lot 1560 Dα

With several labels to the stretcher: “196“, “K. V. H. / 1923“, “F. K. V. / No. 324“, “Berliner Kunstausstellung 1901“, and above: “Thüringer Ausstellungsverein b[ildender] Künstler. Zentrale Weimar“.
Philipp Otto Schäfer was the son of an art history professor and studied at the academies of Vienna, Karlsruhe (Ferdinand Keller), Munich (Ludwig von Löfftz) and Frankfurt. He not only painted portraits, primarily for the South German aristocracy, but also worked on murals and ceiling frescoes - participating on the artistic décor of Joseph Maria Olbrich's “Hochzeitsturm” in Darmstadt in 1908. This commission provides a terminus post quem for his death, the exact date of which remains unknown.
Other works by this artist depict motifs from classical mythology or figures in nature. The present work shows a young girl sitting under a tree, accompanied by three young musicians. This is probably the work exhibited at the Munich Glaspalast in 1900 and in the Große Berliner Kunstausstellung in 1901 under the title “Ständchen” (Serenade) and is presumably still housed in the original frame. A general comment in a first biographical sketch of the artist written by a contemporary in 1901 perfectly sums up the atmosphere of this work: “His landscape backdrops are inhabited by figures who appear to happily dream their lives away - idealised idlers.” (A. Heilmeyer, in: Die Kunst unserer Zeit, 1901, p. 73).