Lot 72

Description

Oil on canvas. Signed upper right “Hassenteufel / Muenchen”; handwritten notes on the reverse. Half-length portrait of a woman with a lute against a neutral gray-beige background. The young woman is depicted in full face, her head tilted slightly to the right. She wears a black wide-brimmed hat, a light blue off-the-shoulder top over a dark skirt/dress; gold earrings, several bracelets on the right wrist, ring with a blue stone on the left hand. The lute, positioned diagonally within the picture plane, is held with both hands and forms the central compositional element. Varied, partly impasto application of paint, particularly in the background with a visibly textured brushstroke; flesh tones are smoother and finely modeled. Calm, balanced composition with clear lighting on the face and hands. Profiled, gilded wooden frame with signs of wear due to age and use and partial loss of gilding. The paint layer is generally stable; under raking light, isolated minor losses and locally limited retouching are visible. Painting dimensions 95.5 x 71 cm, frame dimensions 113.5 x 88 cm. Hans Hassenteufel was a German portrait, nude, and still-life painter. He studied under Rudolf Zeller in Hamburg, at Walter Thor’s painting school in Munich, and under Peter Halm and Franz von Stuck at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. Hassenteufel specialized in depictions of female figures, often in Oriental or Mediterranean costumes.

Condition: I - II Questions about the lot?