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拍品專文
Ernst Meisel was a pupil of the famous Munich painter Karl Theodor von Piloty (1826-1886) in Munich since 1862. In his earlier works from the 1870's he showed a fascination for subjects relating to the French Revolution.
The present lot depicts the famous moment when King Louis XVI of France leaves his cell in the Temple prison on the evening before his execution on the 21st of January 1793. He is being led away by a sansculotte after having said farewell to his wife, Queen Marie Antoinette, and his two children, the dauphin Louis-Charles and the princesse royale. Next to the king stands his confessor, the Irish cleric Abbé Henri Essex Edgeworth de Firmont.
The 'Verbindung für historische Kunst' was founded in 1854 in Dresden. Its aim was to acquire important German history paintings and distribute those amongst its members through a lottery system. The purchase of the present lot by the 'Verbindung' in 1875 was not a unanimous decision by the board. Some members thought that the depiction of the eve of the execution of a king was not a fit subject to show the German public in the newly founded empire. The decision for purchase was taken with a very slight minority and justified as such: "über das'Gemälde von Meisel 'Die letzte Begegnung Ludwig XVI. mit seiner Familie' waren die Ansichten noch mehr geteilt. Einigkeit herrschte über die Schönheit und Feinheit des Farbentums und das künstlerische Arrangement, welches den schmerzlichen Vorgang zur klarsten Anschauung bringt; eingewendet wurde, dass es für einen deutschen Verein misslich erscheine, derartige Vorgänge der französischen Revolution dem Publikum vorzuführen;- es wurde erwidert, dass die eigentliche Heldin des Bildes Marie-Antoinette, eine deutsche Prinzessin und Tochter Maria Theresias sei, welche vollen Anspruch auf unser lebhaftes und inniges Mitgefühl habe.- Das Bild von Meisel wurde angenommen." (see H.W. Schmidt, op.cit., p. 150).
The painting left Germany however shortly after its purchase by the 'Verbindung', as the Kunsthalle Basel, which had become a member of the 'Verbindung' in 1873, acquired the painting in 1881 and has remained in the collection of the Kunsthalle Basel ever since.
The present lot depicts the famous moment when King Louis XVI of France leaves his cell in the Temple prison on the evening before his execution on the 21st of January 1793. He is being led away by a sansculotte after having said farewell to his wife, Queen Marie Antoinette, and his two children, the dauphin Louis-Charles and the princesse royale. Next to the king stands his confessor, the Irish cleric Abbé Henri Essex Edgeworth de Firmont.
The 'Verbindung für historische Kunst' was founded in 1854 in Dresden. Its aim was to acquire important German history paintings and distribute those amongst its members through a lottery system. The purchase of the present lot by the 'Verbindung' in 1875 was not a unanimous decision by the board. Some members thought that the depiction of the eve of the execution of a king was not a fit subject to show the German public in the newly founded empire. The decision for purchase was taken with a very slight minority and justified as such: "über das'Gemälde von Meisel 'Die letzte Begegnung Ludwig XVI. mit seiner Familie' waren die Ansichten noch mehr geteilt. Einigkeit herrschte über die Schönheit und Feinheit des Farbentums und das künstlerische Arrangement, welches den schmerzlichen Vorgang zur klarsten Anschauung bringt; eingewendet wurde, dass es für einen deutschen Verein misslich erscheine, derartige Vorgänge der französischen Revolution dem Publikum vorzuführen;- es wurde erwidert, dass die eigentliche Heldin des Bildes Marie-Antoinette, eine deutsche Prinzessin und Tochter Maria Theresias sei, welche vollen Anspruch auf unser lebhaftes und inniges Mitgefühl habe.- Das Bild von Meisel wurde angenommen." (see H.W. Schmidt, op.cit., p. 150).
The painting left Germany however shortly after its purchase by the 'Verbindung', as the Kunsthalle Basel, which had become a member of the 'Verbindung' in 1873, acquired the painting in 1881 and has remained in the collection of the Kunsthalle Basel ever since.