(Schönau near Teplitz 1842–1915 Veldes)
A sailor of the lost Franklin expedition, signed, dated Julius v. Payer 1885, oil on canvas, 84 x 61.5 cm, framed, (Rei)

The painting can be directly linked to Julius von Payer’s monumental painting, ‘The Death of Sir Franklin’. This lost painting, executed as part of a cycle of four paintings in the years following his return from the Austro-Hungarian North Pole expedition (1872-1874), shows this same sailor in a similar attitude. The missing ‘Franklin cycle’, with which Julius von Payer artistically tried to process his own trauma, deals with the 1845 lost expedition under Sir John Franklin, followed by numerous rescue and search expeditions. Only in 2014 and 2016 were the remains of the two ships, Erebus and HMS Terror, located.
After the North Pole expedition in 1872-1874, Julius von Payer devoted himself more to painting. He first studied at the Städel Art Institute in Frankfurt under Heinrich Hasselhorst, then in 1880-1882 in Munich under Alexander Wagner. During this time, he executed the aforementioned ‘Franklin cycle’, for which he received a medal of the Munich Academy. From 1882/1883 Payer was based in Paris and studied under Mihaly von Munkacsy, among others.