Academic study in oil 1895

JQAW# G_1895_020
Oil on canvas 42 x 34 cm
Signature: Πdams 95
Private collection Austria
Image: Private photograph

Half-length portrait of an elderly woman, half-profile to the right, her head slightly lowered with a stern expression on her face. The sitter wears black, slightly greying hair tied in a knot at the back and a simple black dress with a stand-up collar.

This academic study from the time when Adams was still studying at the Schillerplatz Academy in Vienna represents the earliest surviving oil painting by the artist. The for Adams unusual signature with a "Dürer A," which can only be attested in two other early works by the artist, indicates an artist still developing, though the quality of the paintings execution is already a harbinger of the artists later masterful portraiture.

Cross-references

Exhibited

Literature

Provenance

Unknown.
ca. 2005 art trade Leoben.
Private collection Austria.