Lot 1199 | Falstaff

GRÜTZNER, EDUARD VON
1846 Gross Carlowitz - 1925 Munich


Title: Falstaff.
Technique: Oil on wood.
Measurement: 30 x 24,5cm.
Notation: Signed and dated upper right: E. Grützner / 1907.
Frame/Pedestal: Framed.
Verso:
On the panel label of the London panel makers Winsor & Newton.

Provenance:
Private ownership, Germany.

Eduard von Grützner, who, along with Carl Spitzweg and Franz von Defregger, is one of the most important Munich genre painters of the second half of the 19th century, became known in particular for his depictions of monastic life and gave him the name "Mönchsmaler". Not infrequently, the monks as well as priests and cardinals are depicted with drinking vessels, prostitution, tasting in the wine cellar or simply in the act of drinking.
The present painting, which is part of a further complex of works in Grützner's oeuvre - the representation of literary works, and in particular of the Falstaff - is of a similar type. The figure of Falstaff, which appears for the first time in Shakespeare's works and was subsequently taken up by other authors and composers, such as Beethoven, embodies a corpulent soldier who is addicted to drinking and scrapping.
In comparison with similar portraits, this painting is distinguished by its intensely bright colours and the side view of the portrait, whose mind and character traits are particularly evident in the fine, detailed brushstrokes with which the facial features of the Falstaff are painted.