Coutau-Bégarie & Associés
41
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Attributed to Albert HERTEL (Berlin, 1843 - 1912)
Portrait o…
See original version (French)
41
-
Attributed to Albert HERTEL (Berlin, 1843 - 1912)
Portrait o…
See original version (French)
Estimate €1,000 - €1,500
Voluntary lot
Description
Attributed to Albert HERTEL
(Berlin, 1843 - 1912)
Portrait of a Young Hound Sitting on the Edge of a Forest Sounding his Horn
Oil on original canvas
57 x 79 cm
Signed lower right. " (?). Hert" (?)
Provenance: France, private collection
We propose to include our painting in the body of work by Albert Hertel. A painter from Berlin, Hertel established himself as one of the sensitive figures of German realism at the turn of the century. A student at the Academy
Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin, he cultivated a taste for pictorial narratives and a naturalism attentive to the nuances of everyday life. His long stays in Rome and the light he discovered there left a lasting impression on his palette. When he returned to his home town, he exhibited regularly at the Salon, where the public appreciated the warmth of his atmospheres and the silent delicacy of his painting.
During the nineteenth century, hunting was a singular phenomenon: it was both a popular pictorial theme and a powerful marker of social distinction. Artists were interested in it for its mundane aesthetic, its energy, its movement and the codified elegance of a practice deeply rooted in European traditions. More than just aristocratic entertainment, it became a veritable spectacle. Painters and engravers depicted animals and crews according to precise codes, showcasing the technical mastery of the horsemen and the prestige they enjoyed.
In this work, the painter is not depicting a hunting scene in motion, but is concentrating on the figure of a driver, a member of the crew. Standing at the edge of the forest, he is blowing his horn, perhaps to announce a pause or to indicate that he has stopped. The young henchman is depicted in three-quarter view, blowing a hunting horn whose circular shape elegantly extends the curve of his gesture. His clothing, inspired by German, English and French hunting attire, consists of a tight-fitting red woollen coat; his hair is held back by a black satin bow.
To the left of the composition is the silhouette of a dog, reinforcing the hunting character of the whole. Sitting calmly beside his master, his gaze turned to the left as if challenged by something out of focus, he evokes the loyalty and deep bond between man and animal.
Around the figure, the painter chose to give pride of place to the vegetation, which he rendered in free, rapid brushstrokes. The winding strokes of his brush evoke the passing wind, quivering leaves and the freshness of a hunting morning. In keeping with the naturalist tradition of the late nineteenth century, he envelops the bright red of the coat - which has become the visual centrepiece of the work - in a palette of muted tones, oscillating between browns, greens and greys. This chromatic contrast gives the horseman a dominant presence, as if carrying a sound that spreads through the space.
Everything suggests that the work was produced on the spot: without artifice, the artist seems to have transcribed directly what he observed, faithful to a practice based on the immediate study of nature. In this way, he seems to have sought to capture a suspended, almost musical moment, when the forest holds its breath to hear the call of the horn. Through the interplay of sensations - hearing, sight, touch, even the smell of the undergrowth that can be detected in the thickness of the material - this painting stimulates and awakens the viewer's senses.
The treatment of the sky, light and misty, hints at a diffuse light, perhaps that of dawn or a calm twilight. As a whole, it evokes a scene captured on the spot, in which the artist favours energy, spontaneity and sensation over meticulous detail. Everything in this painting invites contemplation: the solitude of the hunter, the poetry of the gesture, the gentleness of the landscape and the distant murmur of the hunt setting off.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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