Lot 719 | Gabriel Cornelius von Max | Portrait of a Girl

MAX, GABRIEL CORNELIUS VON
1840 Prag - 1915 München

Title: Portrait of a Girl.
Technique: Oil on canvas.
Measurement: 35 x 26.5cm.
Notation: Signed upper right: G.v. Max.
Frame/Pedestal: Framed.
Verso:
On the frame label of the Frankfurt artshop J.P. Schneider jr.

Provenance:
Private ownership, Germany.

Trained at the art academies in Prague, Vienna and Munich and trained in portrait and history painting, Gabriel Corneliuis Max's painting subjects increasingly shifted towards his very own areas of interest. In 1883 he even resigned from his professorship for history painting at the Munich Art Academy, which provided him with a secure livelihood, and devoted himself increasingly to scientific studies, especially anthropology and the contemporary emergence of Darwinism.
His artistic work remains influenced by his training, but Max soon incorporates his own thematic tendencies. The characteristic religious and mythological themes are based on psychological considerations, which the artist transfers in a special way into his profound paintings, which are perfected in their execution. These tendencies can also be found in the portrait of the girl, especially in the expressive gaze, which establishes an apparent connection with the girl, who is actually unknown to us, and draws us under its spell.