Franz Von Stuck - PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST'S DAUGHTER MARY IN A VÉLAZQUEZ COSTUME - image-1

Lot 1268 Dα

Franz Von Stuck - PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST'S DAUGHTER MARY IN A VÉLAZQUEZ COSTUME

Auction 1010 - overview Cologne
11.05.2013, 11:00 - Old Masters & 19th Century
Estimate: 50.000 € - 70.000 €
Result: 61.000 € (incl. premium)

Franz Von Stuck

PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST'S DAUGHTER MARY IN A VÉLAZQUEZ COSTUME

Oil on canvas. 103.5 x 91 cm.
Signed, titled, and dated lower left: Mary/Künstlerkostümfest 1908/Franz von Stuck.

Throughout the oeuvre of Franz von Stuck feature portraits of his beloved daughter Mary. These portraits were not only intimate reflections of his paternal love, but also came to be a highly successful 'product line' of the Munich painter, developed to satisfy the great demand for pictures of his beautiful daughter.
Mary was the daughter of Franz von Stuck from an earlier affair with the baker Anna Maria Meier. She was later formally adopted by Stuck and his wife after permission was granted by the Bavarian Prince Regent. The painting depicts her at the age of twelve wearing a Velázquez-costume she wore at a party in 1908. Stuck painted several versions of this portrait (see Lempertz Auction 947, 21.11.2009, Lot 1363) and also included it in a family portrait of 1909 in which Mary stands, in the same dress, between Stuck and his wife (see Heinrich Voss: Franz von Stuck 1863-1928. Werkkatalog der Gemälde mit einer Einführung in seinen Symbolismus, Munich 1973, no. 330/595, 346/609).
As with other portraits Stuck used a photograph as a template for the work; there exist several photographs showing Mary wearing the Velazquez-costume. Some of these photographs were, along with reproductions of the painted portraits, compiled in an album by Stuck (Exh. cat. Munich 1996 Franz von Stuck und die Photographie. Munich 1996, pp. 106-108).
The painting, in terms of technique, is interesting in two particular areas; it is painted on a herringbone patterned canvas, characteristic of Stuck's work, and also received a kind of varnish with which Stuck experimented to achieve particular colours and spatial effects.

We thank Dr. Margot Brandlhuber, Villa Stuck, Munich, for her help in cataloguing this painting.

Provenance

European private collection.