Lot Essay
Another smaller version, without the wall paintings and the antique bed in the background, is recorded in H. Voss, op. cit., no. 577/131.
The inscription on the frame is taken from the Iliad and refers to Helen's beauty. Stuck, however, represents Helen as a thoughtful woman, with her bent arm and finger touching her chin, similar to the Antiquity Pudititia in the Vatican, which Stuck not only knew but of which he had a plaster cast.
Both paintings show similarities to Stuck's bronze sculpture of which three copies are known and it is likely that they were all done at the same time (circa 1924), (see E. Heilmann in the catalogue of the exhibition, Franz von Stuck, Museum Moderner Kunst, Passau, 19 March-27 June 1993, and Villa Stuck, Munich, 9 Dec. 1993-6 Feb. 1994, p. 128) where two preparatory sketches are also mentioned.
After 1905, Stuck tended to simplify his compositions, the background acting as a contrast to the foreground figures. The elements of the composition are now clearly confined and included symmetrically in a decorative scheme.
The frame, as in the following lot, plays an integral roll in the visual impact. The classical style aludes to the temples of Ancient Greece.
The inscription on the frame is taken from the Iliad and refers to Helen's beauty. Stuck, however, represents Helen as a thoughtful woman, with her bent arm and finger touching her chin, similar to the Antiquity Pudititia in the Vatican, which Stuck not only knew but of which he had a plaster cast.
Both paintings show similarities to Stuck's bronze sculpture of which three copies are known and it is likely that they were all done at the same time (circa 1924), (see E. Heilmann in the catalogue of the exhibition, Franz von Stuck, Museum Moderner Kunst, Passau, 19 March-27 June 1993, and Villa Stuck, Munich, 9 Dec. 1993-6 Feb. 1994, p. 128) where two preparatory sketches are also mentioned.
After 1905, Stuck tended to simplify his compositions, the background acting as a contrast to the foreground figures. The elements of the composition are now clearly confined and included symmetrically in a decorative scheme.
The frame, as in the following lot, plays an integral roll in the visual impact. The classical style aludes to the temples of Ancient Greece.