FRANZ VON STUCK (1863-1928)
FRANZ VON STUCK (1863-1928)
FRANZ VON STUCK (1863-1928)
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FRANZ VON STUCK (1863-1928)

Der Morder

Details
FRANZ VON STUCK (1863-1928)
Der Morder
signed 'FRANZ/ STVCK' (lower right)
oil on panel
19 x 18 in. (48.4 x 45.6 cm.)
Painted in 1891.
Provenance
Anonymous sale; Leo Schidlof's Kunstauktionshaus, 5 March 1921, lot 95.
with The Piccadilly Gallery, circa 1980, from where acquired by the late Barry Humphries.
Literature
F. von Pecht (ed.), Die Kunst für Alle, Munich, 1892⁄93, p. 291, no. 8.
G. Fritsch, Unsere Körperform im Lichte der modernen Kunst, Berlin 1893, p. 22.
O.J. Bierbaum, Aus beiden Lagern. Betrachtungen, Karakteristiken und Stimmungen aus dem ersten Doppel- Ausstellungsjahre in München 1893, München 1893, p. 71.
C. von Lützow (ed.), Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst, Neue Folge, mit dem Beiblatt Kunstchronik, Leipzig, 1895, p. 25.
F. von Boetticher, Malerwerke des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts, vol.II.2, Dresden, 1898, p.859, no. 26.
F.H. Meissner, Franz Stuck. Das Künstlerbuch, vol. III, Berlin & Leipzig, 1899, p. 104.
F.A. Fendler, 'Franz Stuck' in Illustrirte Zeitung, no. 3000, Leipzig, 27 December 1900, p. 11, pl. XXI.
M. de La Mazelière, La Peinture allemande au XIXe Siècle, Paris 1900, p. 376.
O.J. Bierbaum, Franz von Stuck. Künstlermonographien, Bielefeld & Leipzig, 1924, pp. 47, 60, 79 f., fig. 52.
P. Augé (ed.), Larousse du xxe Siècle, vol 6. Paris, 1933, p.495.
Kunst dem Volk, vol 4, no. 13, Wien, April 1942, p. 37.
R. Hamann & J. Hermand, Deutsche Kunst und Kultur von der Gründerzeit bis zum Expressionismus, bk. IV, Stilkunst um 1900, Berlin, 1967, p. 314.
H. Voss, Franz von Stuck, 1863-1928, Munich, 1973, no. 54⁄279, p. 109, illustrated.
E. Becker, Franz von Stuck, Eros & Pathos, Amsterdam, 1995, p. 45, no. 11.
J. Kennedy & E. D. Schmid, exh. cat. Franz von Stuck und Julius Exter, Franz von Stuck Geburtshaus Tettenweis, July 2008- July 2009, p. 63, no. 98, illustrated.
J. Kennedy, exh. cat. Franz von Stuck in der satirischen Presse, Franz von Stuck Geburtshaus Tettenweis, July 2010-June 2011, p.35, illustrated.
Exhibited
Berlin, Große Berliner Kunstausstellung, 1893, no. 1501.
Munich, Munich Secession, Spring 1894.
Canberra, National Gallery, SECESSION: Modern Art in Austria and Germany, 1890s-1920s, May-August 2000.

Brought to you by

Benedict Winter
Benedict Winter Associate Director, Specialist

Lot Essay

Inspired by Arnold Böcklin's (1827-1901) Ein Mörder, von Furien verfolgt (Murderer pursued by the Furies) (1870, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich), but with an even greater sense of excitement and drama, in 1891 Stuck painted his first version of the despair and remorse which pursue a criminal after his deed. The ancient Furies, the goddesses of vengeance, hide behind a rock as they lie in wait for the murderer, who has just killed his victim. The sight of these creatures with their repulsive, half-naked bodies and slimy snakes for hair is a foretaste of the torments awaiting the murderer. The figure of the murderer is derived from Max Klinger's (1857-1920) etching Verfolgung (Pursuit) (Radierte Skizzen, pl. 6, 1879), in which a man in a similar pose runs away on a narrow path.
In a later version of the same subject, (1896, Voss 139⁄284) Stuck takes Pierre-Paul Prud'hon’s (1758-1832) painting Justice and Divine Vengeance pursuing Crime, (1805-6, Getty Centre, Los Angeles) as his model. In the later treatment, the Furies fly through the air, representing the guilty conscience in flapping robes in pursuit of the murderer.

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