Master Sculpture & Works of Art
Master Sculpture & Works of Art
Property from the Collection of Carl and Rosa Askonas
Saint John the Evangelist
Auction Closed
February 7, 08:37 PM GMT
Estimate
10,000 - 15,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Property from the Collection of Carl and Rosa Askonas
Spanish or French, 13th century
Saint John the Evangelist
gilt and painted wood
height: 48 ½ in.; 123.2 cm
Carl and Rosa Askonas, Vienna, until 1938;
Confiscated by the Gestapo in 1940 and subsequently sold through VUGESTA;
Restituted to Rosa Askonas, Montreal, 1957;
Thence by descent to the present collectors.
S. Lillie, Was einmal war: Handbuch der enteigneten Kunstsammlungen Wiens, Vienna 2003, pp. 109 - 111.
According to John's Gospel, Saint John the Evangelist was one Jesus’s most beloved disciples, and was present at Christ’s crucifixion. This sculpture depicts the Saint in mourning, with his head inclined to the left.
The statue was likely part of a large Crucifixion scene, with Christ on the cross in the center, Saint John on the right and a figure of the mourning virgin to the left of the cross.
This work once formed part of the Viennese collection of Carl and Rose Askonas. In 1937, their property and hosiery and glove factory, Heller & Askonas, were confiscated by the Reich and “Aryanized.” The following year, seeking to leave Austria, they applied for an export license that included the present work. The application was denied and the couple was forced to leave Vienna, emigrating to Canada. Following the war, the figure of Saint John was restituted to the family, in whose collection it has since remained.