The engaging subject of this work is entirely typical of this master, who repeated compositional formulae with minor variations when creating small-scale panels of elegant women reading, writing or making music in intimate interiors. This work has the added detail of the figure’s removed gloves, which she has placed on the table before her in readiness for the recital, the score being open to a page that reads in Old French, J’aime mon mari trop. An ointment jar, the attribute of the Magdalene, is also visible, which combined with the musical theme serves to emphasize the underlying vanitas meaning of the subject – the transience of earthly pleasures and beauty.
As noted elsewhere, provenance can sometimes be of more than passing interest, particularly when it is linked to notable personages or events. In this instance, it has the inherent complexity of a restitution work. Thus:
Baron von der Ropp, Schadow Castle, Courland
His sale, Cologne, Heberle, 11 November 1890, lot 41 (as by Hans Sebald Lautensack)
Consul Eduard F. Weber (1830–1907), Galerie Weber, Hamburg
His deceased sale (Galerie Weber), Berlin, Lepke, 20 February 1912, lot 96 (as the Master of the Female Half-lengths), for 13.500 marks to Gustav von Klemperer
Ralph von Klemperer (1884–1956), Dresden, from 1934 and until 1937
Hermann Goering in 1937 (by theft from the above)
The Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Bonn (inv. no. 37.168), acquired in a trade with Goering
Transferred by the Allies to the Depot Homburg (inv. no. Ho 41) on Germany’s defeat in 1945
Transferred from the above to the Marburg Central Collecting Point (inv. no. Mar 690) in 1945
Transferred from the above to the Wiesbaden Central Collecting Point on 11 June 1945
Returned to the Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Bonn on 11 June 1946 (inv. no. 37.168)
Restituted by the above to the Von Klemperer heirs in 2018
Sold by the above at Sotheby’s New York (N10078, May 22, 2019)
