9. Dante and Beatrice [1894]

Leo von König was born in 1871 in Germany. His father was a military officer, a cavalry general, and his mother was Baroness Hertha von Cramm. The young man would study drawing and painting from 1889 to 1894 at the Berlin Art Academy, but he would take his first steps in the path of sculpture at the age of 16, in Hamburg. From 1894 to 1897 he attended the Julian Academy in Paris, and in 1896 he made his debut at the Art Exhibition held in Berlin. In the same year, he becomes a member of the Berlin secession, and will be one of its prominent members, alongside Max Liebermann. This work was therefore done during his first year of study in the French capital. In 1900 he returned to Berlin and began teaching painting. He will marry Anna von Hansemann, also an artist, and who was his model. He will paint particularly portraits and genre scenes where he captures his friends, family and close ones; but we also find a few landscapes or interiors. He would be an advocate of stylistic pluralism and a supporter of emerging artists, from whom he will acquire various works. In 1936 he was a member of the exhibition commission of the arts at the Berlin Olympic Games, where he will also participate with a painting. Over time, several exhibitions will be dedicated to him, and among the most recent we mention the one organized by the Buchheim Museum in Bavaria, during the period 02.12.2023 – 07.04.2024.

Dimensions

width 46 cm, height 55.5 cm

Description

oil on canvas, signed, dated and located lower left, in brown, "V. König, Paris, (18)94"

Dating

1894

PROVENANCE

the collection of the world vice-champion of bridge, Coriolan Neamțu.

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