(Tettenweis 1863–1928 Munich)
Faun and Bacchus, 1905, signed, dated Franz von Stuck 1905,
oil on canvas, 91 x 91 cm, 96.5 x 96.5 framed, old lables on the backside of the frame and there titled “Der junge Bacchus”, original octagonal artist’s frame

Provenance:
Gallery Jerome Friedmann, Hochkamp bei Hamburg
his sale, Rudolph, Lephke, Berlin, 29.10.1912, lot 20
European Private Collection

Literature:
Heinrich Voss, Franz von Stuck, vol. 1, Reutlingen 1973, no 273

With his artistic activities in architecture, design, sculpture, painting and drawing, Franz von Stuck is one of the most highly regarded German artists of Symbolism. Having founded the Munich Secession in 1892, he set new standards in art, which served as a role model for establishing the Vienna Secession in 1898. Franz von Stuck lived out his passion for holistic art to the fullest in his residence and studio – today’s Villa Stuck, which he personally desig-ned and built in Munich.
Characteristic of Franz von Stuck’s Symbolist and later Art Nouveau-style painting is not only the vibrant colouring with sometimes strong light and dark contrasts, but also his recurring attention to pictorial themes from antiquity. The artist varies these pictorial themes such as the music-playing Pan, the joking, flirtatious faun, Orpheus and diverse depictions of Bacchus. He naturally incorporates the relatively new medium of photography into his painting, which he uses as a basis for his landscapes, and also for the gestures and physiognomy of his figures.
In the octagonal-shaped work “Faun and Bacchus”, the painter’s profound fascination with Greek mythology is particularly evident. Here the faun does not act as the lovestruck conqueror of nymphs and mermaids, but rather in this work he is the playful and caring cup-bearer for the boyish god of wine, Bacchus. The two figures highlighted in the foreground blend into the form of the work, allowing for only a minimal view of the silhouette of the tree and the bright blue sky in the background. A number of preparatory drawings were made for this work, some in oil, before Franz von Stuck created its final version in 1905. He subsequently added the prefix “von” to his signature, in keeping with the title of nobility he received in 1906.