Fritz Greve - "Auf der Löwenbrücke im Berliner Tiergarten" - image-1

Lot 336 Dα

Fritz Greve - "Auf der Löwenbrücke im Berliner Tiergarten"

Auction 1105 - overview Berlin
21.04.2018, 14:00 - Prussia II
Estimate: 3.000 € - 4.000 €

Fritz Greve

"Auf der Löwenbrücke im Berliner Tiergarten"

29 x 46.5 cm.
Signed and dated lower left: Fritz Greve 1916.

Verso: Label with title and older provenance.

This work depicts a young boy in a sailor suit with his nanny, crossing the famous Löwenbrücke (Lion Bridge) at the Berlin Zoological Gardens. The child has stopped to offer an apple to one of the stone lions whilst his nurse looks patiently on. Fritz Greve painted this autumnal scene in 1916. Greve was a professor of the Royal Art School from 1902 - 1928 and lived in Charlottenburg at 62 Berliner-Strasse. Although his works were exhibited year after year at the Berlin art exhibition, they are seldom found on the market today.
The bridge depicted in this work was located in the south west of the zoological gardens, near to the pheasant avenue. It was built in 1839 after designs by Ludwig Ferdinand Hesse and Christian Friedrich Tieck as a replica of the Four Lions Bridge in St. Petersburg, and was the first suspension bridge in Germany. Although the bridge was restored after WWII, it was closed in 2008 when it became too dangerous to cross. Although the bridge itself was removed in 2014, the stone lions were left standing and still delight children to this day.