FELIX SCHLESINGER (GERMAN, 1833-1910)
FEEDING TIME
£9,500
Auction: 13 October 2016 at 12:00 BST
Description
Signed, oil on canvas
Dimensions
43cm x 58cm (17in x 22.75in)
Footnote
Provenance: Purchased Haynes Fine Art of Broadway, 2000
Note: Following his completion of art training at the Dusseldorf Academy, Felix Schlesinger worked in Paris and then Munich. Munich was an important location for the visual arts at this time and Schlesinger quickly became a member of the local school of artists, developing his work to adopt their characteristic naturalist style. His rustic, narrative genre scenes, such as 'Feeding Time' were particularly popular with the wealthy middle classes who appreciated the romanticised wholesome-ness of the scenes.
Rabbits became a recurrent emblem in his work and this can be read in a variety of ways: as a realistic focus of the depicted working class, who regularly ate rabbit and bred them to sell on, but also as an acknowledgment to the history of art where they were included in 17th century still-lifes as an opportunity to show off painterly skill. The rabbit can also be recognised as a symbol of abundance, and alongside the ruddy cheeks and wholesome appearance of the barefoot children, add to the romanticised view of a rural lifestyle.