Lot 1344 Dα

The present work belongs to a group of 116 works from the estate of Otto Scholderer which was auctioned at the Frankfurt Kunstverein in 1902. “Little Red Riding Hood,” according to the catalogue of the sale, “is a beautiful, masterly executed painting which became known through its reproduction by the Photographic Union in Munich.” The painting was executed in London, where Scholderer lived between 1871 and 1899. Jutta Bagdahn has dated it to the early 1890s. Subjects from the world of fairy tales, which appear rather seldomly in Scholderer's oeuvre, were quite popular in English art at this time. In his estate there was also a smaller version of this painting (58 x 41 cm) as well “Young Girl with the Stars” and “Snow White with a Dwarf,” which also are dated between 1890 und 1895. These pictures were interpreted as allegories for human experiences, in the case of this picture as a reflection about “seduction and rescue” and of “duty and affection.” In addition to the theme of “fairy tales,” which unites them with English art of the late nineteenth century, the present painting also reveals stylistic agreements to the art of the Pre-Raphaelites, in particularly to Edgar Burne-Jones, with whom Scholderer he shared friendship.