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3265
Kauffmann, Hugo Wilhelm
1844 Hamburg - 1915 Prien a. Chiemsee.
«Jäger und Mädel (hunter and girl)». A Bavarian lad and a charming dairymaid in a rustic farmhouse parlour.
Oil on panel. Signed lower right. Verso a fragmentary printed label with the data of the work and the artist. Verso on the back of the frame numbered «3000», on a label inscribed probably by a different hand «Hugo Kauffman» as well as on a printed label numbered «82».
H 23,7,
In a rustic, homely parlour with vivid attributes of rustic cosiness, such as a dark green glazed tiled stove and a window with bull's-eye glass panes, a hearty hunter's lad is courting the favours of a handsome girl. The young woman has treated her admirer to a fresh beer, which is already half empty. The brash youth places his left hand on her forearm, a gesture that makes her recoil in surprise and freeze in demure terror. At the same time, she fixes him with an interested, scrutinising gaze. It is a delicate moment of ambiguity: how will events unfold? Will she reject his desire or will the two of them start an affair?
This genre scene, which is exemplary for Kauffmann's œuvre, not only shows an interior of archetypal Alpine cosiness, but also an interpersonal encounter of intimate vulnerability and subtly unspoken, folkloristically sugar-coated eroticism. The unresolved tension of this discreet, cozy encounter, supported by Kauffmann's typical narrative quality, captivates the voyeuristic interest of the observing eye and testifies equally to an intensive study of the local area and to an in-depth psychologising inclination of this painter.
Provenance: private collection Munich.
Catalogue raisonné: Holz 866.
Condition report