Reserved - Vitus Reisacher, Portrait Of A Gentleman

Reserved - Vitus Reisacher, Portrait Of A GentlemanA late 19th century portrait of a gentleman by German artist, Vitus Reisacher (1851 1913). Reisacher was an interesting artist as he also trained in photography and had a studio in Munich. It seems that he specialised in wedding portraits and would paint (or photograph) couples prior to their nuptials. This could explain why the gentleman here is looking directly at us with his body square on to the easel. Its possible that the painting was based on

The Old Masters of the Baroque era certainly set the bar high with regards to still lifes and

For instance

So how old is this gentleman and how did he end up discarded in a junk shop in Essex

Craquelure throughout including a vertical line towards the bottom

He’s wearing a fancy white cravat under a dark coat according to the fashion of the 1820s

She appears to be giving him instructions so perhaps she’s the boy’s mother

A characterful portrait of Albert Rufenacht (born 1885) by Hilda Bouna

The painted is housed in a decorative vintage frame and monogrammed in the lower left

Stylistically it draws upon the imagined landscapes of French neoclassical painters

Red hair tumbles down her back as her eyes look hopefully on

Smoke rises from a chimney in the distance as the sun sets on another day in France

Melchior "Melch" Kern (1872-1947)