LOT DETAILS

Materials:

oil on canvas

Measurements:

75.59 in. (192.00 cm.) (height) by 50.20 in. (127.50 cm.) (width)

Markings:

signed with initials and dated AF. 73 lower left

Exhibited:

Vienna, Österreichische Galerie, Neuerwerbungen, 1939, no. 46 Vienna, Österreichische Galerie (Neue Galerie in der Stallburg and later the Belvedere), Vienna (from 1939 until 2009)

Literature:

Hermann Uhde-Bernays, ed., 'Feuerbach. Des Meisters Gemälde', Klassiker der Kunst vol. XXIII, Stuttgart & Berlin, 1913, p. 155, catalogued & illustrated, p. 188, listed Historisches Museum der Pfalz, Speyer, ed., Anselm Feuerbach, exhibition catalogue, 2002, p. 53, illustrated Sophie Lillie, Was einmal war, Vienna, 2003, p. 371, illustrated.

Provenance:

Grand Duke of Oldenburg (Gemäldegalerie Oldenburg) Dr Richard Freund, Vienna Wilhelm Freund, Vienna (inherited from the above in 1934; Wilhelm 'Willy' Freund, born in Pilsen, Bohemia on 2 May 1915, was the only son of the Viennese banker, Dr. Richard Freund (1878-1934) and his wife, Gina Rubel (1892-1935). Wilhelm Freund studied Law and had enrolled at Oxford University in 1937 before the German Anschluss of Austria in 1938. After his father died, Willy Freund inherited parts of his nineteenth-century and German Impressionist art collection, including the present work. Feuerbach's Medea had been placed with the shipper Gustav Knauer for eventual shipping, but was confiscated by the Viennese municipal authorities on 10 December 1938 to prevent it being taken abroad) 'Secured' by the Viennese municipal authorities on 10 December 1938 Österreichische Galerie (Neue Galerie in der Stallburg and latterly the Belvedere), Vienna (from 1939, inv. no. 3704) Restituted to the heirs of Wilhelm Freund in 2009.