(Miesenbach 1807–1862 Vienna)
The Hunted Stag, accompanied by dogs, on the reverse inscribed Das ausschliessliche Nachbildungs-Verfielfälts und Verlagsrecht dieses Bildes käuflich erworben und vorbehalten durch F. Patterno in Wien, Wien am 20. Februar 1867 G. Plach, signed, dated F. Gauermann 1840, oil on panel, 66.5 x 84.5 cm, cradled, framed (Rei)

Provenance:
1840 acquired von Baron Rotschild;
Friedrich Freiherr Schey von Koromla Collection, Vienna (1815–1881);
collection auction C. J. Wawra, 57th Art Auction, 11. february 1882, lot 50;
Edgar Wiesner Collection, Vienna (died 1927);
392nd Art Auction, Dorotheum Vienna, 11. february 1929, lot 34;
395th Art Auction, 30. april 1929, lot 232;
Austrian private collection;
643rd Art Auction, Dorotheum Vienna, 14 march 1984, lot 418;
private property, Vienna.
vCatalogued and illustrated in:
Rupert Feuchtmüller, Friedrich Gauermann 1807–1862, Der Tier und Landschaftsmaler des österreichischen Biedermeier, published by the Österreichische Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1962, book of receipts, p.181, no.148;
Rupert Feuchtmüller, Friedrich Gauermann 1807–1862, published by Rosenheimer 1987, CR 188, ill. p.180.

Exhibited:
Die Alpen im Biedermeier, Friedrich Gauermann und seine Malerfreunde in Wien und München, Städtische Galerie Rosenheim 1987.

Friedrich Gauermann, one of the most important animal painters of the Austrian Biedermeier, developed a huge interest in farming at a young age and in animals in particular. His studies of the Dutch Masters, especially the works of Paulus Potter, influenced the animal paintings which define the artist’s entire oeuvre. His scenes of animals fighting, hunting scenes as well as pasture and animal motifs, were extremely popular and appreciated, both amongst the higher echelons of society and his artistic colleagues. The Austrian painter Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller purchased one of the artist’s works. The paintings are based on the countless animal sketches which Friedrich Gauermann drew during his summer walking tours.

Around 1840 Gauermann worked on a diverse range of hunting themes. A hunt in his home region of Miesenbach was probably the stimulus for The Hunted Stag, which Gauermann announced in a letter to his friend, as follows: “This week there will be a deer hunt in the mountains near the barren cliffs and I am looking forward to it, the scene where they bring the stag out of the wood on a cart pulled by oxen, accompanied by several dogs, makes a good subject for a painting. I will certainly paint it, don’t you think that it would make a good view, through a narrow ravine overgrown with old bushes.” (See: Wolfgang Krug, Friedrich Gauermann 1807-1862, Aus der Sammlung des Niederösterreichischen Landesmuseums, Vienna-Munich 2001, p.198.)