Sunk steamers 1916

JQAW# G_1916_020
Oil on canvas dimensions unknown
Signature: unknown
Work lost
No image available

This lost sketch, was likely made in connection with the painting "Sunk ships in (the harbor of) San Giovanni di Medua" (see cross-references). The sketch documents an episode from the Balkan front. In 1915 Serbian troops occupied the Albanian port of Shëngjin(i) in Italian San Giovanni di Medua, whereupon the port was attacked by the k.u.k. fleet on December 5, 1915 and several ships (steamers and sailing ships) were sunk by shelling by the SMS Novarra and other k.u.k. warships.

The sketch was exhibited at the Adams Collective Exhibition in 1917 and was labeled "private collection" (indicating it was not for sale). The entry book, however, documents the purchase of the painting for 800 crowns by the Viennese cafetier and art collector Josef Siller (delivery: 20.3.1917). The work is lost and was most likely destroyed by a bomb hit that destroyed the Cafe Siller and its cellar in 1945, where Siller's art collection was stored.

Cross-references

The harbor of San Giovanni di Medua 1916 photo.

Exhibited

1917 Künstlerhaus Vienna John Quincy Adams exhibition No. 33 (KH EL 61 1916/17 #521).

Literature

Provenance

1917 purchased by Josef Siller Vienna.
1945 likely destroyed by bombing of the Cafe Siller.
Work lost.