Lot 288: Ferdinand Graf von Harrach (German, 1832-1915)

Aus den Weinbergen von W”rth signed with monogram and dated '1872' (lower centre); and inscribed with title on a label on the reverse oil on panel 105 x 137 cm. PROVENANCE Property of a European Noble family since the late 19th century. LITERATURE Friedrich Pecht, Kunst und Kunstindustrie auf der Wiener Weltausstellung 1873, Stuttgart 1873, p.139. Ulrich Thieme, Felix Becker, Allgemeines Lexicon der Bildender Knstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, Leipzig 1923, XVI, p.53. Friedrich von Boetticher, Malerwerke des Neunzehten Jahrhunderts, II, Frankfurt 1969, p.486, no.12. EXHIBITION Weimar, Kunstschule, 1872. Berlin, K”nigliche Akademie der Knste, 1872. Dresden, K”nigliche Akademie der Knste, 1872. Wien, Akademie, 1873. Berlin, Internationalen Kunst-Ausstellung, Historische Abteilung, 1896. Dresden, Kunstausstellung, year unknown, no.11. NOTES War was declared between France and Prussia in the early summer of 1870. Fierce fighting broke out in the Alsace, the major battle taking place at W”rth on August 6 in which the French under Count MacMahon, were defeated. The artist of the present lot, who had participated in the Franco-Prussian war himself, painted this tragic and romantic scene in 1872 which he called 'In the vineyards of W”rth'. He depicted a scene of human tragedy with a keen eye for detail, in which a dying Prussian soldier hands over his water-bottle to a wounded 'Turco', a North African soldier fighting for the French enemy. In the bitter scene played out by these silent witnesses, the helmet in the dramatic light of the background, and the red bŠret in the foreground, add to the striking vividness of the scene. The painting was very well received and when it was exhibited in Vienna in 1873, the art critic E. Pecht described it as outstanding and praised it for its uniqueness and sense of morality. See illustration.