Anton Graff Attr., Portrait Of A Lady With A Veil

ANTON GRAFF attrib. to
PORTRAIT OF A LADY WITH A VEIL

ANTON GRAFF
WINTERTHUR 1736 – 1813 DRESDEN

Oil on canvas
77 x 61 cm / 30.3 x 24 inches, without frame

Certain masters possess an extraordinary sensitivity to the spirit of their time, acting as artistic "tuning forks" that resonate with the vibrations of their era. For 18th-century German art and the German Enlightenment, Anton Graff was such a master. Born in Winterthur, Switzerland, in 1736, Graff displayed remarkable artistic talent from an early age. His foundational training took place in Winterthur and Augsburg, but pivotal journeys to Munich proved decisive. There, exposure to the works of Joseph Vivien and Georges Desmarées, two elder contemporaries, inspired Graff to develop a portrait style that merged French aristocratic naturalness with German psychological precision.

Graff's acclaim grew rapidly, and in 1766 he was appointed court portraitist in Dresden—a position left vacant since the death of Louis de Silvestre in 1760. Simultaneously, he became a professor of portraiture at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts. Dresden became Graff's home and the heart of his artistic achievements. It was here that he painted his most celebrated portraits, established a family, and amassed a significant fortune, leaving his daughters an inheritance of 40,000 thalers upon his death in 1813.

The Portrait of a Lady with a Veil, recently acquired by the Wladyslaw Maximowicz Gallery, stands as a significant addition to Graff's oeuvre. Notable for its stylistic and compositional qualities, the portrait likely dates to around 1795, a period of the artist's creative peak. This exquisite work, which masterfully conveys both the sitter's grace and inner world, enriches our understanding of Graff's legacy and contributions to 18th-century portraiture.

Wladyslaw MAXIMOWICZ,
Bratislava, 2024

PROVENANCE
Private collection, Italy

RELATED LITERATURE
Berckenhagen, Ekhart: Anton Graff – Leben und Werk. Deutscher Verlag für Kunstwissenschaft, Berlin, 1967 (catalogue raisonné)
Marc Fehlmann und Birgit Verwiebe (Ed.): Anton Graff: Gesichter einer Epoche. (Exhibition catalogue: Museum Oskar Reinhart, Winterthur; Nationalgalerie – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.) München: Hirmer, 2013.