Lot Essay
Edouard Arnhold was one of the most important patrons in German at the beginning of this century. He was a close friend of many of the leading Berlin artists as well as the influential Berlin Museum director Hugo von Tschudi. Thanks to his contribution to commerce as well as the arts (he founded the Deutsche Akademie Villa Massimo in Rome in 1911) he was awarded the honorary title of Geheimrat Arnhold.
A connoisseur in every sense of the word, Arnhold amassed a large collection of important works by the Old Masters, the German Romantics and the French and German Impressionists. His connoisseurship in every area was held in extremely high regard by the great collectors of the period. Louisine Havemeyer travelled to Berlin in 1914, "Arriving in Berlin, she spent much time in museums, comparing their Old Masters with her own; of the private collections, the highlight for her was that of Edouard Arnhold". (F. Weitzenhoffer, The Havemeyers, Impressionism Comes to America, New York, 1986, p. 218)
The French Impressionist part of the Arnhold collection was legendary, including Monet's Le Banc now in the Annenberg collection, Manet's Le bon Bock now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Cézanne's Dans le vallée de l'Oise now in the Goetz Collection, Los Angeles and several other fine and important works by Monet, Sisley, Manet, Degas and their contemporaries.
The collection was also rich in German Impressionism. In 1912 Arnhold arranged the purchase of Slevogt's Roten Andrade for the Nationalgalerie in Berlin, the first Slevogt the museum was to acquire. In 1910 he also befriended Max Liebermann who had recently moved to Wannsee. Liebermann was a frequent visitor to Arnhold's house where he was inspired by the formal garden and the view onto the lake beyond. The present painting was not exactly commissioned by Arnhold rather Liebermann suggested that he should paint it. In it one can clearly see Liebermann's debt to the French Impressionists, primarily in his handling of colour and paint surface but also perhaps in his choice of composition which owes so much to Pissarro's celebrated views of the Tuileries gardens.
Shorly after Liebermann had finished the painting Arnhold purchased it for his own collection.
A connoisseur in every sense of the word, Arnhold amassed a large collection of important works by the Old Masters, the German Romantics and the French and German Impressionists. His connoisseurship in every area was held in extremely high regard by the great collectors of the period. Louisine Havemeyer travelled to Berlin in 1914, "Arriving in Berlin, she spent much time in museums, comparing their Old Masters with her own; of the private collections, the highlight for her was that of Edouard Arnhold". (F. Weitzenhoffer, The Havemeyers, Impressionism Comes to America, New York, 1986, p. 218)
The French Impressionist part of the Arnhold collection was legendary, including Monet's Le Banc now in the Annenberg collection, Manet's Le bon Bock now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Cézanne's Dans le vallée de l'Oise now in the Goetz Collection, Los Angeles and several other fine and important works by Monet, Sisley, Manet, Degas and their contemporaries.
The collection was also rich in German Impressionism. In 1912 Arnhold arranged the purchase of Slevogt's Roten Andrade for the Nationalgalerie in Berlin, the first Slevogt the museum was to acquire. In 1910 he also befriended Max Liebermann who had recently moved to Wannsee. Liebermann was a frequent visitor to Arnhold's house where he was inspired by the formal garden and the view onto the lake beyond. The present painting was not exactly commissioned by Arnhold rather Liebermann suggested that he should paint it. In it one can clearly see Liebermann's debt to the French Impressionists, primarily in his handling of colour and paint surface but also perhaps in his choice of composition which owes so much to Pissarro's celebrated views of the Tuileries gardens.
Shorly after Liebermann had finished the painting Arnhold purchased it for his own collection.