Maedje (Dutch study) 1909

Half-body genre portrait of a Dutch girl. Shown in a sitting position, holding her the hands in the lap over each other, the look of her blue eyes directed towards the viewer, this but not looking at him/her. She wears a dutch costume in dark brown and blue tones, over it a dark brown, red-bordered cape, which forearms uncovered. On the head a dark hood. She sits in front of a light brown wooden paneling, in the upper part of which leaded glass windows in a decorative pattern are inlaid, and in which a burning candle is reflected.

Oil on canvas 88 x 81 cm
Signature: John Quincy Ɑdams. 1909.
Unknown private collection (Austria?)
Image: courtesy of Dorotheum Vienna

This genre portrait derives its charm from the freshness of the unknown sitter and the contemplative tranquility the painting exudes. The interior depicted is possibly a church, which is why the portrait was published in the art card reproduction under the title "At Communion". The painting was also exhibited at the Barcelona International Art Exhibition in 1911 (along with the portrait of the opera singer Theo Drill-Oridge). The painting is possibly a variation or copy of a dutch genre painting entitled "Die Konfirmantin" from 1905 (KH EL 49 1905/06 #3011 sale to Mrs. Barthmann, since lost). Maedje was sold at the 1910 exhibition at the Künstlerhaus to Moritz Rothberger, amateur sculptor and, with his brothers, an avid art collector, especially of old Viennese porcelain. In 1908, Moritz Rothberger produced a satirizing caricature of the Adams painting Reiterbildnis Kurz (see cross-references) for the Künstlerhaus Faschingszeitung (mardi gras newspaper), which probably indicates a good acquaintance, or friendship, with John Quincy Adams.

Cross-references

Exhibited

1910 Künstlerhaus Vienna (EL 54 1910/11 #1395).
1911 Intern. Art Exhibition Barcelona.

Literature

APH, catalog raisonné JQA 1995, p. 64, cat.34, fig.22 (but there incorrectly assigned to the 1905 painting "Die Konfirmantin").

Provenance

Moritz Rothberger, Villa Karolina, Baden.
His heirs.
1997 Gift to private collection Austria.
Auction Dorotheum Vienna 25.6.2014 lot 3 (unsold) and auction 24.2.2015 lot 19. Unknown private collection (Austria?).