Over Half a Million Euros for "Hansl's First Ride"

The painting "Hansl's First Outing" by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, which was only restituted in the summer, was auctioned for 520,000 Euros at the Vienna Dorotheum. The genre painting by the well-known Austrian Biedermeier painter was offered on Wednesday evening as part of the "Classic Week" with an estimated value of 400,000 to 600,000 Euros. It comes from the possession of the Jewish Viennese entrepreneur Grete Klein.

Nazis confiscated painting "Hansl's First Outing"

Klein had to flee Austria in 1938. The painting, created in 1858, which measures 63 by 79 centimeters and depicts a rural children's scene, was confiscated by the Nazis and secured after the war by the American military government and the Monuments Men in the tunnels of Bad Aussee. This summer, it was restituted by the Federal Republic of Germany to the heirs of the Viennese entrepreneur, who died in Israel in 1962.

Furthermore, Polish artists were in high demand at the auction of 19th-century paintings, as informed by the Dorotheum in a press release. For example, Józef von Brandt's Cossack scene "Crossing the Don" ultimately reached 331,500 Euros, with an estimated value of 150,000 to 220,000 Euros, and Alfred von Wierusz-Kowalski's "Fox Hunt" fetched around 106,000 Euros (estimated value: 40,000 to 60,000 Euros). The painting "Portrait of a Lady in a Red Dress with a Manila Shawl (Una Manola)" also significantly exceeded expectations (100,000 to 150,000 Euros). It is by Juan Luna y Novicio, the most important Filipino artist of the 19th century, and was sold for 273,000 Euros.

(APA/Red)

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