(Vienna 1793–1865 Hinterbrühl)
Count Esterházy’s Hunting Dog Lying by a Creek, with Count Esterházy in a Raised Hide in the Background, signed, dated Waldmüller (1)823, oil on panel, 16 x 19.5cm, framed

Provenance:
Leo Kowacz Collection, Havana, Cuba;
Sale Sotheby’s, London, 19 June 1986, lot 109;
Private Collection, Austria;
Sale, Im Kinsky, Vienna, 19 October 2016, lot 933;
Sale, Im Kinsky, Vienna, 24 April 2018, lot 846 (bought-in);
Sale, Im Kinsky, Vienna, 15 December 2020, lot 265;
Private Collection, Germany.

Catalogued and illustrated in:
Rupert Feuchtmüller, Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller 1793–1865. Leben, Schriften, Werke, Vienna 1996, p. 431, no. 133.

The present lot shows Count Ladislaus Esterházy-Galántha's hunting dog and was probably painted at the same time as the portrait of the count himself. Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller has placed the dog lying by a stream with a wide landscape of hills in the background; the count can be seen standing with his rifle in the bushes on the right. The colour scheme in the typical green and brown tones is characteristic of the artist's early works and captivates with its lifelike depiction. The fur, seemingly executed hair by hair, appears almost tangible to the viewer's eye. The focus on depicting the animal as realistically as possible indicates how important the four-legged companion was to the Count. Waldmüller also made two further portraits of the Münsterländer on his behalf.