Alexander Koester - Ducks on the Water - image-1

Lot 1570 Dα

Alexander Koester - Ducks on the Water

Auction 1076 - overview Cologne
19.11.2016, 14:00 - 19th Century Art
Estimate: 35.000 € - 40.000 €
Result: 37.200 € (incl. premium)

Alexander Koester

Ducks on the Water

Oil on canvas. 80 x 124 cm.
Signed lower left: A. KOESTER.

Alexander Koester has gone down in the history of art as the “duck painter”, as he spent almost forty years depicting these animals in their habitat. He even had his own duck ponds dug out in Klausen (South Tyrol) and Dießen on Lake Amme to facilitate his studies. The anatomical correctness of his draughtsmanship, the naturalistic reflections of sunlight upon the birds' plumage and the glistening reflections on the surface of the water lend Koester's works their realistic and harmonious appeal. His palette follows the subtle and subdued colours of nature, and this work also shows the same reduced but sophisticated tonal range. In contrast to the majority of his paintings, this work shows all the ducks facing the same direction, swimming diagonally from the upper right corner to the lower left.

Provenance

Galerie Keul und Sohn, Wiesbaden, 05.04.1991. - Private collection, Rhineland.