2100
Angelika Kauffmann
(Chur 1741 - 1807 Rom)
„Ariadne hands Theseus the saving ball of wool at the entrance to the labyrinth - study“
c. 1798
black and white chalk, on blue-toned paper; unframed
25.2 x 27 cm
inscribed on the reverse: Angelica Kauffmann
Provenance
1913 with Alexander Twietmeyer, Antiquariat, Leipzig;
collection Alfred Stix (1882-1957), art historian, et al. director of the graphic collection of the Albertina, Vienna;
private property, Austria
We are grateful to Dr. Bettina Baumgärtel, head of the Angelika Kauffmann Research Project, Düsseldorf, for her assistance in cataloguing and confirmation of the drawing (after viewing the original). Certificate is enclosed.
Estimate: € 3.500 - 7.000
Realized price: € 12.160 (incl. fees and Austrian VAT)
Hammer Price: € 9.500
Auction is closed.
The work is a study for an oil painting created around 1798, currently in private ownership.
“...It is a preliminary sketch for the oil painting of the same name, which was painted around 1798/99 and first shown by the author as part of the exhibition “Angelika Kauffmann. Unknown Treasures from Vorarlberg Collections” in 2018 at the Kulturstiftung Dessau-Wörlitz and in 2019 at the vorarlberg museum Bregenz (Baumgärtel, in: Exhibition Catalogue. Angelika Kauffmann 2018, p. 180f., cat. 89).
The beautiful, spontaneous idea sketch differs in some details from the executed oil painting and shows that the artist had originally planned a tondo format. The sketch was first drawn in black chalk and then heightened with white chalk, and finally some parts, such as the contours and folds and the shadowed face of Theseus, were reworked....” (translated from the certificate: Dr. Bettina Baumgärtel, Head of Angelika Kauffmann Research Project_AKRP, Düsseldorf, November 5, 2024)