Bidspirit auction | Christian Friedrich Gille

Christian Friedrich Gille - Christian Friedrich Gille ”Marsh Plants by the Water”. Circa 1870/1880.. Christian Friedrich Gille 1805 Ballenstedt/Harz – 1899 Dresden Oil on paper, subsequently mounted fully onto hardboard. Unsigned. In a wide, gold-coloured frame, with translucent, dark red primer and organically structured surface and profiled sight-edge. With a written authenticity confirmation from Dr. Gerd Spitzer dated January 8, 2017. Illustrated in: Gerd Spitzer: Christian Friedrich Gille. Malerische Entdeckung der Natur. Petersberg 2018. Plate 85. ”In some of his late studies, Gille pushed the contrast between proximity and distance, sharpness and blur so far that this method, which could also be described as a dialogue of differences, gained even more emphatic pictorial inherent value. The ”Marsh Plants by the Water” unfold their full charm only against the broadly rendered and summarily depicted background, as the graphic-linear forms are set against painterly-fluid passages. At the same time, however, in both areas, which depict the external form quite differently, an independent examination of the colour phenomena will occur in a similarly differentiated manner.” (quoted from Gerd Spitzer, pp. 184f). The edge areas of the support were somewhat trimmed during the subsequent mounting. At the upper edge in the middle, two small tears (approx. 1.2 cm), secured by the mounting, as well as another one at the right edge middle. The lower right corner of the sheet with a former tear-off (approx. 6 cm), the re-attached edges slightly raised and the outermost corner there with minimal material loss. Dimensions: 27.2 x 37.1 cm, Frame 39 x 48.7 cm. Christian Friedrich Gille 1805 Ballenstedt/Harz – 1899 Dresden From 1825, Gille began his studies at the Dresden Art Academy with the landscape engraver Johann G. A. Frenzel. From 1827–30, he was a studio student of Johan Christian Clausen Dahl, who taught him landscape painting. Through Dahl's mediation and advocacy, Gille acquired his first commissions as an engraver in the early 1830s, including for the ”Bildchronik” of the Saxon Art Association. In parallel, he worked with the lithographer Ludwig Theodor Zöllner, who taught him the new technique. However, Gille never gave up his interest in painting during that time. Numerous small oil sketches and drawings were created in intensive studies, which were also enriched by large-format works in later years. He could never fully support himself through his extensive painterly oeuvre alone, so he continued to work as a graphic artist and, at times, as an drawing teacher.