Friedrich Gauermann
Rock Formation by a Stream
Oil on paper, mounted on panel. 49 x 37.5 cm.
With remains of an old hand-written label to the back of the panel: “Gauermann, Friedr[ich] / († in Wien) / Oelstudie Miesenbach / 7.150”.
Friedrich Gauermann was considered the most important animal painter of the Biedermeier era in Austria. This oil sketch concentrates on the depiction of landscape, utilising a composition that the artist reiterated in several versions. This composition scheme generally features a vast rock formation rising up from a stream. This motif occupies the entire right side of the image; the top of the stone mass with its carpet of greenery is cut off by the upper edge of the work. The delicate pine trees and the distant view of mountains under a cloudy sky in the upper section of the work contrast starkly to the mighty bulk of the overgrown rock.
The relatively low viewpoint is typical of this artist, and accentuates the monumentality of the natural forms. His works “Füchse jagen Wildenten“, “Zwei Hirsche, von Hunden gehetzt“, and “Ein erlegter Bär wird aufgefunden“ all utilise a similar composition (illus. in: Rupert Feuchtmüller: Friedrich Gauermann, Rosenheim 1987, p. 258, 259 and 262). However, the present work shows the most similarity to a piece depicting a deer by a stream dated to around 1844 (Feuchtmüller, op. cit., p. 292, no. 213) and a further painting housed in the Gauermann Museum in the artist's home town of Miesenbach dated to 1840 (inv. no. 933. Feuchtmüller, op. cit., p. 289, no. 187; illus. in: Gauermann Museum, Miesenbach-Scheuchenstein, undated, p. 21). The latter work even includes the same red and white flowers that appear upon the rock formation in this piece.
Provenance
Private collection, West Germany.