Lot 1284 | Otto Grashof | The Franz Hallmann Family on the Terrace of their House in Valparaiso

GRASHOF, OTTO
1812 Prenzlau - 1876 Cologne

Title: The Franz Hallmann Family on the Terrace of their House in Valparaiso.
Technique: Oil on canvas.
Mounting: Relined.
Measurement: 60 x 76cm.
Notation: Signed and dated lower left: Otto Grashof 1854 / Valparaiso Juli.
Frame: Framed.

Literature:
R. Löschner: Otto Grashof. Die Reisen des Malers in Argentinien, Uruguay, Chile und Brasilien 1852-1857, Berlin 1987, ill. p. 268, no. 23.

Provenance:
Private ownership, Germany.

As if on a stage in front of the overwhelming backdrop of the city's harbour on the Pacific and the mountain range of the Andes in the distance, Grashof portrays the young Hallmann family in Valparaiso. The painting is dated July 1854; a few months earlier, the painter had travelled from Argentina across the Andes to the Pacific, always hoping for rewarding commissions.

Not by chance had Valparaiso been his destination; various recommendations quickly brought him into the circles of the Europeans living there. Just as quickly, he was commissioned to paint portraits and was able to sell the landscape paintings he had sketched on his journey. The merchant and banker Franz Hallmann, whose brother also lived in Russia as a painter and with whom Grashof shared a flat during the years in St. Petersburg, also lived in the city.
In his letter to the Cologne family, Grashof reported in May 1854 that Franz Hallmann had commissioned him to paint this family portrait, which he was able to complete in July. This commission developed into a long-lasting business relationship. The banker Franz Hallmann later managed Grashof's finances in South America. Much more important for the painter, however, may have been that a family friendship also developed, which lasted long after Grashof had left Valparaiso.