Lorelei on the Rock - photo 1
Lorelei on the Rock - photo 2
Lorelei on the Rock - photo 3
Lorelei on the Rock - photo 4

Lorelei on the Rock

Lot 1307
16.05.2025 15:00UTC +02:00
Classic
Bid acceptance closed for this auction
------
AuctioneerVAN HAM Kunstauktionen GmbH
Event locationGermany, Köln
Buyer Premium32%
ID 1424186
Lot 1307 | Lorelei on the Rock
Estimate value
€ 15 000 – 25 000
BEWER, CLEMENS1820 Aachen - 1884 Bonn


Title: Lorelei on the Rock.
Date: 1867.
Technique: Oil on canvas.
Mounting: Relined.
Measurement: 147 x 109cm.
Notation: Signed lower right: "C. Bewer 1867".
Frame: Framed.
Literature:
F.v. Boetticher: Malerwerke des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. Dresden 1891-1901, vol. I.,1, p. 95, no. 10 (here with ownership details: Alwin Adam, Boston).

Provenance:
Private ownership, Germany, purchased from an American private collection.

Tragedy lies in her gaze. The young, unreal beauty is seated on a steep rock high above the water. The wind plays with her strawberry blonde hair, crowned with a diadem, and her golden-yellow robe. It is the hour of sunset glow, but stormy clouds are gathering, through which a glistening ray of sunlight hits the lonely figure on the rock. The white top has slipped over the shoulders of this beauty in a way that exposes her left breast. She holds an eleven-string lyre in her left hand. However, the gaze of the woman with the classical profile is not happy. It is directed inwards, appearing lost in reverie. There are shadows around her eyes, and her delicately chiseled mouth is serious. This 'Lore Lay', painted by the artist Clemens Bewer in 1867, is suffering from the role that was originally and created by poet Clemens Brentano in such a tragic fashion in 1801. Her beauty and her singing lead men to their doom, but she has lost the one she desires. Brentano's romantic personification of unfulfilled love quickly took on a life of its own and was transformed. It became a popular motif, not least through the poem by Heinrich Heine that was adapted as a song. Bewer's Lorelei has interrupted her ill-fated song, but her beauty remains her curse.

Born in Aachen, Carl Bewer initially trained at the Düsseldorf Academy under Carl Ferdinand Sohn from 1837 on. In 1841 he went to Paris, where he continued his studies under the leading history painter Paul Delaroche and the portraitist Ary Scheffer. When Bewer returned to Düsseldorf in 1847, he continued to study under Wilhelm von Schadow and was quickly integrated into the artistic community. Bewer became a member and later president of the artists' association Malkasten and the Düsseldorf artists' cooperative; in 1869 he was awarded the title of professor by the local academy. Clemens Bewer mainly painted subjects with literary, occasionally religious content, which he sold nationally and internationally on the developing art market. He was distinguished by the materiality of his depictions and his great talent as a colourist. From the 1870s on, Clemens Bewer also earned an excellent reputation as a portraitist.

Soon after its creation, the present painting found its way to the United States. Since the late 1840s, artists of the Düsseldorf School of Painting had maintained close relationships across the Atlantic, including a lively art trade. Within the United States, 'The Lorelei' probably changed hands several times; as a result, knowledge of her identity was also lost. Most recently, she was known as a 'muse with a lyre' in the US. In fact, the expressive woman on the rock painted by Clemens Bewer can be openly interpreted and admired by today's audience as an ancient mythological figure or as a modern and timeless fantasy figure.
Applied technique:Oil
Auction house category:Paintings by newer masters
Address of auction VAN HAM Kunstauktionen GmbH
Hitzelerstr. 2
50968 Köln
Germany
Preview
Phone +49 221 92586215
Fax +49 221 92 58 62 4
Email
4FQ.4SU-3S1@Y3GR3F@
Buyer Premium 32%
Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase
Business hoursBusiness hours
Mo 10:00 – 17:00   
Tu 10:00 – 17:00   
We 10:00 – 17:00   
Th 10:00 – 17:00   
Fr 10:00 – 17:00   
Sa 10:00 – 13:00   
Su closed

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.