Carl Jutz the Elder - Much Ado About Nothing - image-1

Lot 1551 Rα

Carl Jutz the Elder - Much Ado About Nothing

Auction 1076 - overview Cologne
19.11.2016, 14:00 - 19th Century Art
Estimate: 50.000 € - 60.000 €
Result: 68.200 € (incl. premium)

Carl Jutz the Elder

Much Ado About Nothing

Oil on canvas. 147 x 189 cm.
Signed lower left: Carl Jutz.

Carl Jutz was born in 1838 in the town of Windschlag in Baden. He lost his mother when he was just 10 years old, and his father immigrated to America just five years later, leaving Jutz to apprentice under the Dutch animal painter August Knip in Baden-Baden. As of this point, his career seemed predestined: He moved to Munich in 1861, where he joined the circle of animal painters around Anton Braith and Friedrich Voltz. He remained loyal to this genre following his relocation to Düsseldorf in 1867, becoming one of the most important and successful animal and bird painters of the 19th century. His “works are characterised by the fineness of their detail, their extraordinary naturalism, and perfect brushwork” (B. Palmbach, 2013).
The present work can definitely be considered one of Jutz' finest pieces, and already featured in numerous exhibitions throughout the 19th century. For example the Vienna world fair of 1873, in which it was awarded a medal. The work's imposing size also makes it one of, if not the largest piece ever to be carried out by the painter, who usually focussed on mid- and small-sized canvasses. The depiction of the lady with an umbrella in the background also gives it the exceptional status of being one of very few works by Jutz to include a human figure.
Since the 1870s, Jutz's animal paintings began to incorporate narrative elements, often with a humorous or moral undertone. The present work, entitled “Much Ado about Nothing” after the play by Shakespeare, is among these pieces. The little whippet is shown frozen in astonishment, looking bewilderedly on at the panic he has caused among the flock of chickens and the magnificent peacock.

Provenance

Galerie Christa Scholten, Moers (1981).

Literature

Illustrirter [sic!] Katalog der internationalen Kunstausstellung im Königl. Glaspalaste in München 1883, p. 15, no. 984. - Friedrich von Boetticher: Malerwerke des Neunzehnten Jahrhunderts, vol. 1 (2nd half), Dresden 1891, Neudruck Leipzig 1941, p. 631, no. 8. - Stadt Offenburg (ed.): Carl Jutz. Ein Düsseldorfer Tiermaler aus Windschläg, Offenburg 1992, p. 42-44, illus. 26, p. 43.

Exhibitions

Hamburger Kunstverein 1873. - Vienna world fair 1873. - Internationale Kunstausstellung im Königl. Glaspalaste in München 1883, no. 984.