Lot 457 D α

A copy of a photo-certificate by Hans-Jürgen Imiela of the present painting dated 27 June 1981 can be found in the Imiela archive categorised under the year 1893. A dating around 1893 is plausible not only due to the manner of painting and tonality. The inscription („MAX SLEVOGT 13 BERLIN 1918“) on the painting's verso is indicative of an exhibition organised by the Freie Secession and Paul Cassirer on the occasion of Max Slevogt's 50th birthday in Berlin in 1918. The painting is offered in the respective catalogue under the number 13 titled „Damenbildnis 1893", however with slightly divergent dimensions.
Little is known of the sitter's identity. Imelia names either a 'Comtesse du Pont' or a 'Baronesse von Habermann' as possible sitters. The latter could be the sister-in-law of Slevogt's long-time painter friend from Munich, Freiherr Hugo von Habermann, who like Slevogt was a founder member of the Munich Secession in 1892.
Slevogt admittedly rendered the depicted lady with the appropriate attributes to her social standing in a rather conventional manner. However, the way he blended her into the oval composition through the tilting of the head, the curvature of her shoulders down to the delicately elaborated hands unmistakeably discloses the young painter's mastery.