Max SELIGER - Study of Trees

Date	1886
Period	19th century
Medium	Watercolour, pen and grey ink and grey wash
Dimensions	31.6 x 21.9 cm (12¹/₂ x 8⁵/₈ inches)
Gallery	Stephen Ongpin Fine Art

Description
Technical

Drawn in 1886, this oil sketch is a fine example of the young Max Seliger’s interest in painting en plein air. The inscription ‘Ernsthöhe’, written twice on the sheet, probably refers to the area near Coburg in Bavaria where the Schloss Hohenfels was built in 1840. The tree on the right, with a smooth whitish bark, may be a European or common beech tree (Fagus sylvatica), while the tree at the left is perhaps a Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris).

A similar, slightly larger oil sketch of a single tree by Seliger, also drawn at Ernsthöhe and dated 1886, was with Stephen Ongpin Fine Art in 2008 and is today in a private American collection.

Date: 1886
Period: 19th century
Medium: Watercolour, pen and grey ink and grey wash
Signature: Signed, dated and inscribed M. Seliger VIII 1886 Ernsthöhe. in red gouache at the top of the sheet.
Further inscribed, signed and dated Ernsthöhe VII.86 / M. Seliger at the lower left.

Dimensions: 31.6 x 21.9 cm (12¹/₂ x 8⁵/₈ inches)
Provenance: Anonymous sale, Berlin, Galerie Bassenge, 8 June 2007, lot 6486
Galerie de Loës, Geneva, in 2007.

Categories: Paintings, Drawings & Prints