Wilhelmine Schwanck, (Russian, 1844-1936)

The Scholar

The Scholar
signed, inscribed and dated 'W. Schwanck./1876./Düsseldorf' (lower left)
oil on canvas
122.5 x 85cm (48 1/4 x 33 7/16in).

Wilhelmine Schwank studied in St. Petersburg and later in Dresden. She mostly painted still lives and portraits, exhibiting a small number of paintings at the Riga Art Society in 1880. She also worked in Dusseldorf - where the present lot was painted - Altenburg and Italy, before settling in Latvia, where she worked as a teacher.

The sitter in the present lot, wearing North African dress, may be posing as a scholar or high-ranking secretary, suggested by the inclusion of an inkwell and Ottoman divit - a scribe's pen case- sticking out of his belt.