Lot 1967 Dα

Johanna Unger was born the daughter of the lawyer and art historian Friedrich Wilhelm Unger. She first studied as a private pupil of C. F. Sohn, O. Rethel and E. Leutze in Düsseldorf, then in Munich under W. Lindenschmit the Younger, and is therefore represented with an entry in the authoritative artist's encyclopaedias of both German schools of painting of the 19th century. In both publications her work is illustrated by a picture of our large-format depiction of Debora.

Johanna Unger often focused on strong female figures in her narrative paintings, of which our painting of Debora is probably the most significant example. The Old Testament figure of Deborah is mentioned in chapters 4 and 5 of the Book of Judges, where she is the only woman to hold the office of judge. She is also said to have possessed the gift of prophecy and it is in this capacity that Johanna Unger seems to have depicted her in the present work, as a young woman with a lyre and a laurel wreath. The depiction is still clearly in the tradition of the Nazarenes, whose stylistic influence on Johanna Unger was conveyed via the Düsseldorf Late Nazarenes, who were influenced by Wilhelm Schadow.