3231
Adam, Richard Benno
1873 München - 1937 ibid.
Mounted officer of the Austro-Hungarian Army «in the field».
Oil on canvas. Signed lower right and dated 1919. Verso on the stretcher inscribed probably by a different hand with the data of the painting supplies shop «Gebr. Otte Hamburg Steindamm 45».
H 105,5, W 85,5 cm (support). Elaborate frame.
An officer on horseback, presumably a lieutenant-colonel in the infantry, decorated with the Military Cross of Merit, the Iron Cross and the Order of Leopold, stands on the edge of a battlefield and gazes into the distance over burning ruins. This imposing portrait of monumental character is part of a heroic culture of remembrance of the lost First World War that was common in Austria and Germany in the 1920s and 1930s.
We would like to thank Dr. Thomas Weißbrich, head of collection Militaria, Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin, for the kind remarks via E-Mail, based on photos, 03.08.2021.
Provenance: private collection Hamburg and Markgräflerland.

Condition report