Portrait of Mrs. Veronica Heiss with a hair ornament and a necklace of corals
Signed Zorn. Executed in 1883. Watercolour 43.5 x 31 cm.
Provenance
Mrs. Veronica Heiss, née Reiner (1841-1927).
Thence by descent to her daughter Laura Hartmann, née Heiss
Bukowski Auctions, The Spring Auction 359, 3 - 5 April 1957, cat. no. 291.
Literature
Gerda Boëthius, "ZORN -Tecknaren, Målaren, Etsaren, Skulptören", 1949, mentioned p. 139 and listed in listed under year 1883, p. 539.
More information
Gerda Boethius writes the following about the auction's current works: "He now had several commissions and executed watercolour portraits, including those of Frans Heiss and Veronica Heiss. They are beautiful watercolours, where he demonstrates his confidence in painting black, and he has extraordinarily characterised the dignified brew master. Mrs Veronica's portrait is rich in colour. Her blouse is crimson red, and she has a bright red coral band in her dark brown hair."
More about Anders Zorn
Anders Zorn, born in Mora in 1860, showed artistic talent from a young age. In 1875, he traveled to Stockholm and became a student at the then Slöjdskolan (now Tekniska högskolan) in Stockholm, and shortly after, he joined the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Initially, Zorn had aspirations of becoming a sculptor, but soon watercolor painting took over, becoming his primary medium until 1887. At the student exhibition in 1880, Zorn had his breakthrough with the watercolor painting "I sorg." The following year, he gained international acclaim as a portrait painter. His watercolor painting reached its pinnacle during this period, and his most famous work from this time is "Vårt dagliga bröd” from 1886. Shortly thereafter, Zorn transitioned to oil painting, which was met with immediate success. Zorn's reputation mainly rested on his portrait art, and he portrayed many notable figures, including presidents. For instance, he created an etching of Theodore Roosevelt. His etchings significantly contributed to his success. In the late 1880s, Zorn began working in the genre that would increasingly become his trademark: nude figures in outdoor settings. He had long been fascinated by the movement of water and the reflections of light on its surface. Now, he added the complexity of placing a model near or in the water, aiming to depict a synthesis between nature and humanity. In 1896, Zorn and his wife moved back to Sweden and settled in Zorngården in Mora. This move sparked a renewed interest in his homeland, which would be reflected in his future paintings. Among the artist's scenes from the Mora region, portraying its local customs and ancient traditions, "Midsommardansen" holds the highest value according to Zorn himself. Today, the painting can be found at the National Museum.
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