Wonderful German genre painting of 17th century tavern scene in style of Franz Hals by Karl Josef Muller (German, 1864-1942) dated 1918. Signed and dated lower left corner "Karl Muller - Hamburg 1918". Condition: Good; professionally restored: Canvas restreched on new stretcher bars; five repairs made to small tears in canvas (see image); cleaned and re-varnished with UV-resistant varnish. Unframed. Image size: 39.5"H x 55"W. We have the original frame which needs some extensive repair to the gesso. Happy to include the frame with the painting as is.
Karl Müller was born in Hamburg-Altstadt in 1865. His wealthy Jewish parents Abraham Müller (1832-1896), citizen of the Hanseatic city since 1869, and Henriette "Jette", b. Burchard (born 1832 Neubuckow / Mecklenburg), had a cigar factory at Spielbudenplatz 5 in St.Pauli. When Karl Müller was ten years old, next to factory and warehouse, now at Speersort 11 (Altstadt), there was also a branch in Altona-Ottensen with the address Am Felde 68. The family lived at the time at Pferdemarkt 13 (Old Town).
After attending the Jewish Foundation School at the Zeughausmarkt, Karl Müller completed a three-year lithography apprenticeship. From 1886 to 1888, he studied at the Royal Saxon School of Applied Arts in Dresden with the history and decoration painter Donadini, then with Professor Hanke of the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin.
Karl Müller's painting style was conventional-realistic and did not follow modern trends. In 1891, the oil paintings "Preparation for the Service", "In the guardroom", tattoo", "gymnastics lesson", "covert patrol” and "return from the field service exercise”, whose main motive almost always soldiers formed.In 1893, he painted the" invasion of the 76er " as a horizontal format in black and white, the painting was acquired by the Museum of Hamburg History in 1930. The disposition of Karl Müller could be classified as "kaisertreu" and "national" (Maike Bruhns) at this time - not by chance he acted with his Nicknamed "Soldatenmüller", he successfully participated in exhibitions in Berlin and Hamburg before the turn of the century.
Even at this time, the frequent change of residence is striking: 1893 Papendamm 25 (Rotherbaum), 1896 Bundesstraße 9 (Rotherbaum). In 1898 he was in the Hamburg address book as a "genre and portrait painter" with the residential address 1. average 43 (Rotherbaum) out.
At the age of 38, Karl married in 1903 in the Hanseatic city of the Jewish Louise Hauer (born 12.2.1872 in Hamburg), called "Lieschen". Before her marriage, she lived with her mother at Grindelberg 78. Her father, Martin Hauer (1836-1897), also born in Hamburg and was a citizen of the city since 1862, owned a factory for soap and perfume. In 1904 and 1911, the two daughters Karla and Lotte were born.
1904, the family lived at this time in the Bogenstraße 20, Karl Müller commissioned a portrait of the emigrated hamburger Henry Jones opening the same lodge in the Hartungstraße 9-11. Already at this time he might have been a member of the Hamburg Artists Association of 1832.
Starting from 1908 further change of dwellings on the basis of the telephone books are comprehensible: nearly yearly the family moved and moved thereby from the Grindel quarter over Hoheluft east to Harvestehude and Winterhude. Around 1912 she moved into an apartment in Sierichstraße 156. Here, the landlord Schröder provided the artist with an area of around 45 square meters as a studio on the dry floor. But the building police criticized this use and after some disputes, the painter had to move once again with family and studio. The official telephone directory recorded as an address from 1914 to 1918 Klosterallee 20 (Harvestehude).
Friedrich Jansa described Karl Müller's changed motif choice in his artist's glossary in 1912: "In recent years he has been watercolouring a lot in the Hamburg area and now mainly takes his motifs from Hamburg harbor...
Category
1910s Realist Linen Figurative Paintings
