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Lot Essay
Thoma's Symbolist works are often suffused with his religious and spiritual view of nature and humanity. 'I was familiar with the Bible, and Nature often spoke to me as if in the words of a Psalm', he once commented (see: H.E. Busse, Hans Thoma, Sein Leben in Selbstzeugnissen, Briefen und Berichten, Berlin 1942, p. 33). The present work is an example of how Thoma can find divine revelation in everyday scenes of rural life, returning to the Romantic theme of the individual in relation to the immensity of the natural world. A parallel to the silhouetted figures which look out over extensive landscapes in the work of Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) can in this context be mentioned.
It was following his meeting with Arnold Böcklin (1827-1901) in Munich in 1871 that Thoma's art developed away from objective realism towards a more symbolic interpretation of nature. From this time onward his paintings become progressively more literary. It is interesting to note that the collector Eduard Arnhold (1849-1925) who owned the present lot, would hang paintings by Thoma next to works by Böcklin (see: M. Dorrmann, op cit, 2002, p. 143).
From 1877 Thoma moved to Frankfurt, where he stayed until 1899. This was the most productive period of his career and he frequently returned to the subject of man's relationship with the countryside. In 1890, the year in which the present lot was painted, Thoma exhibited at the Munich Kunstverein and was recognised for his achievements by both traditional and avant-garde groups of artists. He was made an Honorary Member of the Munich Academy and an invitation to contribute to an exhibition of the Munich Secession followed in 1892.
As mentioned above, the present lot was formerly in the collection of Eduard Arnhold who was one of the foremost art patrons in Germany at the beginning of the Twentieth Century. He was a close friend to several leading contemporary artists and founded the Deutsche Akademie, Villa Massimo, in Rome in 1911. Arnhold amassed a large collection of important works ranging from Old Masters, German Romantics and Symbolists, to French and German Impressionists.
It was following his meeting with Arnold Böcklin (1827-1901) in Munich in 1871 that Thoma's art developed away from objective realism towards a more symbolic interpretation of nature. From this time onward his paintings become progressively more literary. It is interesting to note that the collector Eduard Arnhold (1849-1925) who owned the present lot, would hang paintings by Thoma next to works by Böcklin (see: M. Dorrmann, op cit, 2002, p. 143).
From 1877 Thoma moved to Frankfurt, where he stayed until 1899. This was the most productive period of his career and he frequently returned to the subject of man's relationship with the countryside. In 1890, the year in which the present lot was painted, Thoma exhibited at the Munich Kunstverein and was recognised for his achievements by both traditional and avant-garde groups of artists. He was made an Honorary Member of the Munich Academy and an invitation to contribute to an exhibition of the Munich Secession followed in 1892.
As mentioned above, the present lot was formerly in the collection of Eduard Arnhold who was one of the foremost art patrons in Germany at the beginning of the Twentieth Century. He was a close friend to several leading contemporary artists and founded the Deutsche Akademie, Villa Massimo, in Rome in 1911. Arnhold amassed a large collection of important works ranging from Old Masters, German Romantics and Symbolists, to French and German Impressionists.