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Old Master & British Works on Paper
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Adolph von Menzel
BRESLAU 1815 - 1905 BERLIN
STUDY OF AN OLD LADY
Black chalk and stumping;
signed with the artist's initials and dated, lower left: AM / 90.
206 by 130 mm
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signed with the artist's initials and dated, lower left: AM / 90.
206 by 130 mm
Provenance
Presumably collection Rathenau-Ettlinger, Germany,
assigned to the collection of the proposed Führermuseum, Linz (inv. no. 1151),
recovered by the Allies from the salt mines at Altaussee, Austria and transferred to the Central Collecting Point, Munich on 18 October 1945 (inv. no. 10525),
transferred from the Central Collecting Point, Munich to the Central Collecting Point, Wiesbaden on 29 June 1949,
transferred to the office of the Ministerpresident, Bavaria on 10 August 1951 and subsequently restituted to E. Rathenau and E. Ettlinger, New York and Oxford on 14 September 1954,
George Ettlinger, Twyford, by 1993,
thence by inheritance to his widow Madeline Ettlinger,
by whom gifted to the previous owner in 2003,
sale, London, Sotheby's, 13 June 2006, lot 1
assigned to the collection of the proposed Führermuseum, Linz (inv. no. 1151),
recovered by the Allies from the salt mines at Altaussee, Austria and transferred to the Central Collecting Point, Munich on 18 October 1945 (inv. no. 10525),
transferred from the Central Collecting Point, Munich to the Central Collecting Point, Wiesbaden on 29 June 1949,
transferred to the office of the Ministerpresident, Bavaria on 10 August 1951 and subsequently restituted to E. Rathenau and E. Ettlinger, New York and Oxford on 14 September 1954,
George Ettlinger, Twyford, by 1993,
thence by inheritance to his widow Madeline Ettlinger,
by whom gifted to the previous owner in 2003,
sale, London, Sotheby's, 13 June 2006, lot 1
Catalogue Note
Menzel was a prolific draughtsman and during the course of his long career made a large number of drawings, some minor and sketchy, others such as the present lot, more diligently worked up and full of personality, an added dimension that many of his contemporaries in the 19th Century did not or could not achieve. The vast majority of Menzel’s drawings are not directly connected to finished paintings, but were instead created by a fascinating and wildly talented man, who for the best part of sixty years, never left home without a sketch book and drawing instruments and was known to regularly - and in a totally unannounced fashion - begin drawing people, whether strangers on the street or elegant company at a society event. This obsessive need to draw, both as a way to satisfy his own artistic instincts, and as a means of documenting his social surroundings, resulted in Menzel becoming one of the most accomplished and instantly recognisable draughtsmen active in the 19th Century.
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