Lot 1193 | Adoration of the Child with St. Catherine and Barbara

STAHL, FRIEDRICH
1863 Munich - 1940 Rome


Title: Adoration of the Child with St. Catherine and Barbara.
Technique: Oil on canvas.
Measurement: 50 x 40cm.
Notation: Signed and dated lower right: Fried. Stahl / Roma 02.
Frame/Pedestal: Framed.
Provenance:
Private ownership, Germany.

The present scene of the Adoration of the Child with St. Catherine on the left and St. Barbara on the right side of the image gives us the perception of the past epoch of the early Renaissance. Friedrich Stahl, who first devoted himself to Impressionist pictorial motifs in Berlin, met the Pre-Raphaelites there during a stay in England before he went to Italy to study the works of the great masters of the 15th century in the original. The present painting wonderfully illustrates Stahl's individual style, which is based on the past epoch of the Quattrocento, both in the strictly composed composition, the choice of motif, the mystically dreamy scenery and the sense of materiality.
The original wooden frame with side tabernacles as part of the work reveals the "Arts And Crafts" idea, which celebrated its heyday in England at the beginning of the 20th century and brought artistic craftsmanship back to the foreground. In the present work, the early Renaissance is thus not only received exclusively through painting, but also through the elaborately designed frame, which is based on this period.