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Heinrich Heine
Details
Attributed to Friedrich August Elsasser (German, 1810-1845)
Heinrich Heine
oil on canvas
22½ x 19 5/8 in. (57.2 x 49.8 cm.)
Provenance: The portrait is believed to have been originally in the possession of the Elsasser brothers, Friedrich August and Julius, passing via their sister to its first confirmed owner, Miss Mathilde von Waldenburg in the 1850s; Mrs Ludwig Mond (bt at C.G. Boerner, Leipzig, sale of 28 March 1906); Sir Israel Gollancz; and by descent.
Although Heine's eyes are referred to by one or two contemporaries as of a blue-ish tinge, the great majority of contemporary portraits agree in depicting them as brown, and the marked blue-green of the eyes in the present portrait may indicate that it was not taken from life. The subject's appearance and style of dress date are typical of Heine in the late 1820s-early 1830s (cf the well-known engraved portrait of 1827 by Ludwig Grimm, which also features a coat with a fur collar).
Heinrich Heine
oil on canvas
22½ x 19 5/8 in. (57.2 x 49.8 cm.)
Provenance: The portrait is believed to have been originally in the possession of the Elsasser brothers, Friedrich August and Julius, passing via their sister to its first confirmed owner, Miss Mathilde von Waldenburg in the 1850s; Mrs Ludwig Mond (bt at C.G. Boerner, Leipzig, sale of 28 March 1906); Sir Israel Gollancz; and by descent.
Although Heine's eyes are referred to by one or two contemporaries as of a blue-ish tinge, the great majority of contemporary portraits agree in depicting them as brown, and the marked blue-green of the eyes in the present portrait may indicate that it was not taken from life. The subject's appearance and style of dress date are typical of Heine in the late 1820s-early 1830s (cf the well-known engraved portrait of 1827 by Ludwig Grimm, which also features a coat with a fur collar).
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