Heinrich Friedrich Füger The Three Graces bringing Cupid to their...
Property from a Private Collection
Heinrich Friedrich Füger
Heilbronn 1751–1818 Vienna
The Three Graces bringing Cupid to their Parents
signed and dated lower right: Füger fe / 1816.
oil on canvas
unframed: 47.6 x 59 cm.; 18¾ x 23¼ in.
framed: 65 x 77.5 cm.; 25⅝ x 30½ in.
Condition Report:
The canvas has been lined and is providing a flat and stable support to the paint surface. The work presents well and is ready to hang. Very small flecks of surface dirt in a few areas mostly visible to the far right figure's shoulder, however these are not detracting and are only visible upon closer inspection.
Inspection under ultraviolet light reveals a layer of varnish and retouching to the extremities of the canvas, mostly visible to the left and right edges. Further retouching to the left of the far right figure's head and above the man's head (within the building), further small scattered spots elsewhere, however these are minor.
Catalogue Note:
The theme of this painting derives from a poem written by Christoph Martin Wieland in 1769, entitled Die Grazien, in which the Three Graces have found the sleeping Cupid and carry him in a basket of flowers to their parents. The pendant to this painting, of the same date, can be found in the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich, and depicts the moment in which the Three Graces discover the sleeping Cupid.1 The studies for both these works were offered at auction in Vienna in 1916.2
Heinrich Friedrich Füger (1751–1818) was a prominent figure in the evolution of Classicism within art. Initially influenced by Adam Friedrich Oeser in Leipzig, Füger would develop his skills during a formative period in Italy between 1776 and 1783. It was during this time he encountered the works of influential artists such as Anton Rafael Mengs, Angelica Kauffmann and Jacques-Louis David, whose contributions significantly influenced the trajectory of neoclassical aesthetics. Füger went on to become the director of the Austrian Academy, and later, in 1806, the director of the Imperial Collection in Vienna.
1 Friedrich Heinrich Füger, Die drei Grazien finden Amor, 1816, oil on canvas, 48 x 59 cm., Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich, no. 1644.
2 Anonymous sale, Vienna, Wawra, 6 December 1916, lot 47.
Provenance:
The artist's estate, after his death, by 1818, no. 5;
Private collection, Vienna, by 1928;
Anonymous sale, Vienna, Dorotheum, 11 November 1980, lot 303;
Where acquired by the present collector.
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Property from a Private Collection
Heinrich Friedrich Füger
Heilbronn 1751–1818 Vienna
The Three Graces bringing Cupid to their Parents
signed and dated lower right: Füger fe / 1816.
oil on canvas
unframed: 47.6 x 59 cm.; 18¾ x 23¼ in.
framed: 65 x 77.5 cm.; 25⅝ x 30½ in.
Condition Report:
The canvas has been lined and is providing a flat and stable support to the paint surface. The work presents well and is ready to hang. Very small flecks of surface dirt in a few areas mostly visible to the far right figure's shoulder, however these are not detracting and are only visible upon closer inspection.
Inspection under ultraviolet light reveals a layer of varnish and retouching to the extremities of the canvas, mostly visible to the left and right edges. Further retouching to the left of the far right figure's head and above the man's head (within the building), further small scattered spots elsewhere, however these are minor.
Catalogue Note:
The theme of this painting derives from a poem written by Christoph Martin Wieland in 1769, entitled Die Grazien, in which the Three Graces have found the sleeping Cupid and carry him in a basket of flowers to their parents. The pendant to this painting, of the same date, can be found in the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich, and depicts the moment in which the Three Graces discover the sleeping Cupid.1 The studies for both these works were offered at auction in Vienna in 1916.2
Heinrich Friedrich Füger (1751–1818) was a prominent figure in the evolution of Classicism within art. Initially influenced by Adam Friedrich Oeser in Leipzig, Füger would develop his skills during a formative period in Italy between 1776 and 1783. It was during this time he encountered the works of influential artists such as Anton Rafael Mengs, Angelica Kauffmann and Jacques-Louis David, whose contributions significantly influenced the trajectory of neoclassical aesthetics. Füger went on to become the director of the Austrian Academy, and later, in 1806, the director of the Imperial Collection in Vienna.
1 Friedrich Heinrich Füger, Die drei Grazien finden Amor, 1816, oil on canvas, 48 x 59 cm., Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich, no. 1644.
2 Anonymous sale, Vienna, Wawra, 6 December 1916, lot 47.
Provenance:
The artist's estate, after his death, by 1818, no. 5;
Private collection, Vienna, by 1928;
Anonymous sale, Vienna, Dorotheum, 11 November 1980, lot 303;
Where acquired by the present collector.
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