Eesti kunsti oksjonid

Oil on wood. 1870s-80s.
Signature: EvGebhardt / 2 põõna

Born in Järva-Jaani and a graduate of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, Eduard von Gebhardt (1838-1925) is one of the most influential and respected artists of Baltic German origin. He pursued his creative and administrative career in Germany as a professor at the Düsseldorf Academy of Arts, where he became a reformer of Protestant church paintings.

One of his favorite genres was portraiture, which he treated in brown, Rembrandt-like colors, based on the aesthetics of the 17th-century realistic Dutch school. Gebhardt loved to portray peasants primarily because of their sincerity and this masterpiece – a portrait of a young farmer – captivates with its ability to convey a psychologically rich facial expression: it contains confidence, seriousness, sentimentality, and pure beauty. The shirt and black robe can stylistically refer to the clothing of the German peasantry of the Reformation period – in which Gebhardt loved to “dress” his models, while at the same time recalling Estonian folkwear.

Text: Harry Liivrand