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Artwork Details
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Title:Beech Trees in the English Garden, Munich
Artist:Johann Georg von Dillis (German, Grüngiebing 1759–1841 Munich)
Medium:Oil on paper, laid down on cardboard
Dimensions:10 x 7 1/2 in. (25.4 x 19.1 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Thaw Collection, Jointly Owned by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Morgan Library & Museum, Gift of Eugene V. Thaw, 2009
Object Number:2009.400.48
[Galerie Zinckgraf, Munich, ca. 1949–54; stock no. 22075]; Dr. Eugen Roth, Munich (by 1961–d. 1976); by descent to private collection (1976–at least 1991); [Daxer & Marschall, Munich, in 2000]; Eugene V. Thaw, New York (by 2002–9)
Munich. Neue Pinakothek, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen. "Johann Georg von Dillis (1759–1841) Landschaft und Menschenbild," November 29, 1991–February 9, 1992, no. 23.
Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Albertinum. "Johann Georg von Dillis (1759–1841) Landschaft und Menschenbild," March 1–May 3, 1992, no. 23.
New York. Pierpont Morgan Library. "The Thaw Collection: Master Drawings and Oil Sketches, Acquisitions Since 1994," September 27, 2002–January 19, 2003, no. 77 (as "Beech Trees in the English Garden in Munich").
New York. Morgan Library & Museum. "Studying Nature: Oil Sketches from the Thaw Collection," January 23–August 30, 2009, unnum. checklist (as "Beech Trees in the Englishergarten, Munich").
London. Courtauld Institute of Art. "A Dialogue with Nature: Romantic Landscapes from Britain and Germany," January 30–April 27, 2014, no. 6.
New York. Morgan Library & Museum. "A Dialogue with Nature: Romantic Landscapes from Britain and Germany," May 30–September 7, 2014, no. 6.
New York. Morgan Library & Museum. "Trees: Oil Sketches from the Thaw Collection," November 24, 2015–July 10, 2016, no catalogue.
Richard Messerer. "Georg von Dillis, Leben und Werk." Oberbayerisches Archiv 84 (1961), p. 87, no. 34, as "Parklandschaft," with the dimensions 20 x 26 cm; catalogues it in the section entitled "München und nächste Umgebung (an der Isar und im Englischen Garten)".
Christoph Heilmann inJohann Georg von Dillis (1759–1841) Landschaft und Menschenbild. Ed. Christoph Heilmann et al. Exh. cat., Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen München, Neue Pinakothek. Munich, 1991, pp. 104–5, no. 23, ill. (color), as "Buchen im englischen Garten nahe beim Aumeister"; suggests that the artist was seated before and below the two beech trees at right as he worked, adding the smaller tree at left, depicted at eye level, from his imagination, in the studio.
Dr. Rhoda Eitel-Porter inThe Thaw Collection: Master Drawings and Oil Sketches, Acquisitions Since 1994. Exh. cat., Pierpont Morgan Library. New York, 2002, pp. 170–71, no. 77, ill. (color), states that the inscription on the back of this painting, translated as "Beech trees in the English Garden near the Aumeister" (a country inn), suggests that it was intended as an independent work of art rather than a study; calls "The Prater Island near Munich" (Messerer 1961, no. 24; Oskar Reinhardt Foundation, Winterthur), a pendant oil sketch of identical dimensions.
Asher E. Miller in "Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 2008–2010." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 68 (Fall 2010), pp. 47, 49, ill. (color).
Esther Bell. "Catalogue Raisonné of the Thaw Collection." Studying Nature: Oil Sketches from the Thaw Collection. Ed. Jennifer Tonkovich. New York, 2011, p. 119, no. 53, ill. (color), calls it "Beech Trees in the English Garden, Munich".
Rachel Sloan in Matthew Hargraves and Rachel Sloan. A Dialogue with Nature: Romantic Landscapes from Britain and Germany. Exh. cat., Courtauld Gallery. London, 2014, pp. 34–35, no. 6, ill. (color), dates the picture to "around or after 1811" based on the inscription on the verso naming the location as "nahe beim Aumeister" (near the Aumeister), an inn built in 1810–11 in the Englischer Garten in Munich where Dillis is known to have sketched; suggests that most of the composition was painted rapidly on the spot.
Johann Georg von Dillis (German, Grüngiebing 1759–1841 Munich)
late 18th–mid-19th century
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