Auction 1272 - Berlin Auction on 21st June

The capital plays the leading role in this spring’s Berlin auction, with the highlight being a painting of the boulevard Unter den Linden by Wilhelm Brücke that was once owned by the mayor and later Federal Chancellor Willi Brandt. Important porcelain pieces point to the history of Prussia. The modern art section of the sale includes three impressive views by Wilhelm von Leistikow, two depicting the Grunewaldsee.

Few streets reflect Berlin's history better than ‘Unter den Linden’, the boulevard between the Brandenburg Gate and the palace. A single look gives you a deep insight into Berlin's cultural history: the City Palace, the Crown Prince's Palace, in front of which is the palace of Prince Henry, Frederick II's younger brother, which has been the headquarters of the Humboldt University since 1809, and across from it the Neue Wache.

This view, showing so much of Berlin in a single glance, already caught the attention of Willy Brandt, the former Governing Mayor and later Federal Chancellor of Germany, who previously owned this painting. Wilhelm Brücke, a painter who specialised in depictions of architecture, studied at the Berlin Art Academy, but also trained in Rome and St. Petersburg. Back in Berlin, he became one of the most important architectural painters of the 19th century. ‘Unter den Linden’ will be offered in the Berlin auction with an estimate of €50,000 to €60,000. 

Adolf von Menzel, one of the most influential realist artists of the 19th century, is represented in the auction with several drawings. A view of the ‘Wallpavilion at the Zwinger’ leads in terms of estimated price at €18,000 to €22,000. The artist had visited Dresden several times and captured the city's architecture in drawings that are now housed in major museums worldwide. Another sheet from Menzel's hand is a self-portrait. The piece is a preliminary study for the lithograph ‘Der Antiquar’ and is estimated at €10,000 to €15,000. A study sheet with kneeling figures is estimated at €3,000 to €4,000.

Emil Wolff can be described as one of the most famous representatives of sculpture of his time. According to literature, there are three versions of his ‘Young Satyr’. One was in the collection of Tsarina Marija Alexandrowna and is now lost, one was auctioned in London a decade ago, coming from British aristocratic property, and the third is being offered here in the Berlin auction. Emil Wolff created this 105 centimetre high marble sculpture around 1850 in Rome, where he had taken over Rudolf Schadow's studio in 1822. This work will now be auctioned in Berlin with an estimated price of €50,000 to €70,000.

A vase depicting views of Berlin stands out from the traditionally strong porcelain offering. The 50-centimetre-high vase was commissioned by King Friedrich Wilhelm III from KPM in 1830 as a gift for Countess v. Reden, widow of a deserving minister, and was part of the legendary Twinight Collection. The buildings depicted, ‘The Museum in Berlin’ and ‘The Werder Church in Berlin’, were both designed by Friedrich Schinkel and completed in 1830, the same year that the vase was commissioned. The estimated price for this historically significant and elaborate piece is €40,000 to €60,000. Schinkel himself is featured in the auction in the form of a bust after a model by Christian Friedrich Tieck. The cast, created in a Berlin foundry in the second quarter or middle of the 19th century, is estimated at €6,000 to €8,000 (lot 113).

Another special Berlin KPM work coming under the hammer this spring is a vase with ‘fleurs en terrasse’ decor. The piece, designed in around 1795 and based on a Sèvres model, can be found illustrated in specialist literature and has an estimated price of €13,000 to €15,000.

Modern painting is represented by three works painted by Walter Leistikow. The ‘Strandpromenade von Helgoland’ is one of his earliest works. It was exhibited in 1892, the year of its creation, and was already compared to works by Max Liebermann by contemporary critics (estimated at €50,000 to €60,000).

Only a little later, Leistikow created two views of Grunewaldsee of almost the same size, which complement each other but are not counterparts.

A work by Hans Hubert Dietzsch-Sachsenhausen strives ‘Towards the sun’, and not only in its title. The bronze, created in 1919 at the time when naturism began to spread in Berlin, visualises the sense of freedom epitomised by the movement; the estimate for this expansive, life-size sculpture is € 30,000 - 40,000.

The preview opens on Friday 13th June at Lempertz in Berlin, Poststraße 22 in the Nikolai quarter at 6 pm and can be viewed from 14th to 19th June from 10 am to 5 pm.

Jan Bykowski
Press and Public Relations
info@lempertz.com
Tel. 0221 925729 -57