Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, circle of
Mater Dolorosa
Oil on canvas (relined). 64 x 53.5 cm.
In an old carved wood frame.
In a letter to the owner of the work dated 12.7.1939, August L. Mayer writes: “I deeply regret, that actually I cannot make a new edition of my book in „Klassiker der Kunst“, but I hope to publish another monography of Murillo in Spain“ (A. L. Mayer: Murillo. Des Meisters Gemälde, Stuttgart/Berlin 1913). By way of an expertise, he wrote on the back of the photograph: “The picture is in my opinion a very fine, well preserved, genuine and most characteristic work by B. Murillo, executed most probably about 1668, the period, I consider the best and most powerful of the master. I reserve me the right of the first publication of this important and impressive work.”
August Mayer was never able to publish another work on the Spanish master. Stripped of his offices in Munich, he fled to Paris in 1936. From there he was deported to Auschwitz in 1944 and murdered in the same year. August Liebmann Mayer was one of the most prominent art historians of the early 20th century and the era's leading specialist for 17th century Spanish painting.
Certificate
August L. Mayer, 12.VII. 1939, with an original letter from the same day.
Provenance
Purchased in 1939 from de Boer, Amsterdam. - Henceforth in Dutch family ownership.