ID 548947
Lot 1105 | A Young Lady Playing the Harp
Estimate value
€ 15 000 – 25 000
1853 Vienna - 1918 Munich
Title: A Young Lady Playing the Harp.
Technique: Oil on wood.
Measurement: 40,5 x 30cm.
Notation: Signed lower left: F. Simm.
Frame/Pedestal: Framed.
Verso:
On the panel adhesive label from the London artists' supply dealer Winsor&Newton.
Provenance:
Private ownership, Germany.
As an ensemble with its original and opulent frame, the portrait of a young lady at the harp seems like an open door that draws today's viewer into the Biedermeier era - even if we are actually only looking through a keyhole, as the scene is rather intimate and personal. The elegantly dressed musician, who plays the harp pensively and only for herself - the depiction of a harp as an instrument alone has rarity value in itself - lives in her own world, the only attribute appearing to be the floral still life of the white lilies, which refer to the lilies with which the Mother of God was identified with already in medieval paintings. The chair and the lavishly decorated silk wallpaper suggest her elevated social status. We can understand the harp as a symbol for the inner harmony of the young lady.
All this is emblematic of social life when the bourgeoisie created its own idyll in the interior, for which art and culture, architecture and fashion were of immediate importance.
Franz Xaver Simm, born in Vienna, studied there with Anselm Feuerbach and, after stays in Rome and Tbilisi, settled in Munich with his wife, who was also a painter. There he quickly made a name for himself with his small-format genre depictions, which were stylistically oriented towards the Empire, this variety of classicism that was influential not only for interior design. The combination of his excellent and detailed painting culture together with the splendid carved gold frame of no lesser quality harmonise and impress in this painting of A Young Lady Playing the Harp in a special way.
Applied technique: | Oil paint |
---|---|
Auction house category: | Paintings 19th Century |
Applied technique: | Oil paint |
---|---|
Auction house category: | Paintings 19th Century |
Address of auction |
VAN HAM Kunstauktionen GmbH Hitzelerstr. 2 50968 Köln Germany | ||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Preview |
| ||||||||||||||
Phone | +49 221 92586215 | ||||||||||||||
Fax | +49 221 92 58 62 4 | ||||||||||||||
Buyer Premium | 29% | ||||||||||||||
Conditions of purchase | Conditions of purchase | ||||||||||||||
Business hours | Business hours
|
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
First of all, you should register to be able to purchase at auction. After confirming your email address, enter your personal information in your user profile, such as your first name, last name, and mail address. Choose a lot from the upcoming auction and the maximum amount you want to place on it. After confirmation of your choice, we will send your application by e-mail to the appropriate auction house. If the auction house accepts a request, it will participate in the auction. You can view the current status of a bid at any time in your personal account in the "Bids" section.
Auctions are performed by auction houses and each of the auction houses describes their terms of auction. You can see the texts in the section "Auction information".
The results of the auction are published within a few days after the end of the auction. In the top menu of the site, find the tab "Auctions". Click on it and you will be on the auction catalog page, where you can easily find the category "Results". After opening it, select the desired auction from the list, enter and view the current status of the interested lot.
The information about the auction winners is confidential. The auction winner will receive a direct notification from the auction house responsible with instructions for further action: an invoice for payment and the manner in which the goods will be received.
Each of the auction houses has its own payment policy for the won lots. All auction houses accept bank transfers, most of them accept credit card payments. In the near future you will find detailed information for each case in the section "Auction information" on the page of the auction catalog and the lot.
Shipment of the won lot depends on its size. Small items can be delivered by post. Larger lots are sent by courier. Employees of the auction houses will offer you a wide range to choose from.
No. The archive serves as a reference for the study of auction prices, photographs and descriptions of works of art.