Lot 1295 | Eduard von Grützner | "Schlumberger Goldeck"

GRÜTZNER, EDUARD VON
1846 Gross Carlowitz - 1925 Munich

Title: "Schlumberger Goldeck".
Two friars in the wine cellar tasting wine.
On the wood pannelling in the background inscribed with "Schlumberger Goldeck".
Technique: Oil on wood.
Measurement: 40 x 51cm.
Notation: Signed and dated lower right: Eduard Grützner / 87.

Verso:
On the plate label of the London plate maker Winsor&Newton.

Literature:
L. Balogh: Eduard von Grützner 1846-1925. Ein Münchener Genremaler der Gründerzeit, Munich 1991, no. 218, p. 187 with ill.
Here with details of provenance: Auction Helbin, Munich, July 1922.

Provenance:
Private ownership, Germany.

Eduard von Grützner belongs to the most important Munich genre painters of the second half of the 19th century, besides Carl Spitzweg and Franz von Defregger. Monks and priests sampling wine in the monastery cellar is a theme that characterises his entire oeuvre as a leitmotif and with many variations. In this atmospherically powerful painting, a Dominican friar sits between heavy wine barrels in the vacuum-like seclusion of a wine cellar, tasting the "Schlumberger Goldeck" wine speciality that has just been served to him with a connoisseur's expression. For a conclusive judgement, of course, the wine has to be tasted extensively and conscientiously. Next to him stands the cellar master, the sampling siphon in his hand, through whose flask the noble grape juice has just flowed into the glasses. His face shows great satisfaction and contentment with the successful vintage.
In addition to the precise study of facial expressions, the painter is keenly focused on creating atmosphere and playing with different textures: from the grained texture of the inanimate oak wood in contrast to the lively facial expressions and wrinkled skin of the friars, to the fabrics of the craftsmen's and religious garments, to the reflective surfaces of the glasses.