HERMANN ARMIN VON KERN
“Der Gemusehandler im Weinkeller”
A fine oil on panel painting by Hermann Armin von Kern (1838-1912) entitled “Der Gemusehandler im Weinkeller” depicting an old man peeling vegetables.
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Some other examples of works by this artist are included at the end of the photos.
Frame: Presented in the original swept giltwood frame.
Signature: Lower left. Also inscribed on the reverse “la reproduction est defendue”; signed with initials and stamped with the artist’s seal.
Provenance: Coolings Galleries, Bond Street, London (label verso). Purchased from here by previous owner in 1974. Army and Navy Warehouse label dated 23 Jun 1938 (label verso)
Condition: Painting and frame are both in good condition. Some minor re-touching to correct rubbing in the margins.
Measurements: Painting measures 46 x 31cm and the overall frame 60x 45cm.
Biography: Hermann Armin von Kern (14 March 1838 – 18 January 1912) was an academic painter, one of the most popular Austrian genre painters of his time and a court painter at the court of Franz Josef I in Vienna.
He began his artistic training at the age of 16 in Levoča under Theo Böhm. He went to Prague in 1854, where he studied under J.B. Klemens, and then attended the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, where he was instructed by C. Rahl. In 1867 he studied in Düsseldorf, and in 1870 he studied under Karl von Piloty at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, where he befriended Franz von Defregger.
Hermann specialised in portraits and genre scenes. The latter often depicted children at play, music making gypsies, tavern scenes, and single persons. In 1885 he painted the ceiling decoration of the Szeged Theatre. He worked initially in Budapest as a portrait and genre painter. Later, he moved to Paris, and in 1877 he moved to Vienna, and lived there with his large family (his wife Paulina and 10 children) as an emperor Franz Joseph I Court Painter until his death in 1912 in Maria Enzersdorf, Austria.