Lot 1342 | Ludwig von Hofmann | Spring at Lake Lugano

HOFMANN, LUDWIG VON
1861 Darmstadt - 1945 Pillnitz

Title: Spring at Lake Lugano.
Technique: Oil on canvas.
Mounting: Relined.
Measurement: 67 x 94,5cm.
Notation: Signed lower right: L.v. Hofmann.
Frame: Framed.

Verso:
On the frame an adhesive label of the Königl. Sächsische Kunsthandlung Ernst Arnold.

Provenance:
Private ownership, Germany.

The Italian coastal landscape appears like an untouched paradise in Friedrich von Hofmann's serene painting, which shines in delicate pastel shades. The steep rock formation rises mightily out of the turbulent turquoise water. Visible far across the plateau, a domed building towers in the distance and, further ahead, a castle-like complex. Their façades, in soft sand and earth tones, blend harmoniously with the landscape to create an idyllic scene, populated only by two tiny, staffage-like fishermen with their boats.
On canvas, Friedrich von Hofmann gave painterly expression to his fascination for Italy, which was awakened in him during a journey of several months through large parts of the country in 1894. His encounter with antiquity, to whose study he devoted himself intensively and whose reception is present in many of his works, will be decisive for his oeuvre. The painter, whose artistic training had begun in Dresden, was deeply impressed by the vastness and original beauty of the country.

Born in 1861, the son of an upper middle-class family studied at the local academy, later moving to Karlsruhe - as a master student of Ferdinand Keller - and then to the "Académie Julien" in Paris. In Paris he was impressed by the works of Albert Besnard and Puvis de Chavanne. Through them and his later encounters with works by Hans von Marrée, von Hofmann was inspired to create the complex of themes that would form the focus of his works: ancient images of the body, depictions of idylls and, in general, the nature-loving, naked person in the great outdoors.
In 1890, at the age of 29, Ludwig von Hofmann settled in Berlin as a fully trained artist and quickly became familiar with the avant-garde artists of the metropolis. As a founding member of the "Vereinigung der XI", and later of the Berlin Secession, he associated with the absolute art elite around Max Liebermann, Lovis Corinth and Walter Leistikow. His art, with its luminous colouring, is considered groundbreaking and even provocative.

His unmistakable poetic and atmospheric style originates from that period: it is hard to believe that his pastel-like colourfulness, which is highly appreciated today, aroused displeasure among early critics.
Immersed in the Mediterranean light, Ludwig von Hofmann transports the viewer to a peaceful, picturesque coastal landscape that seems timeless and like his version of Arcadia.