ANSELM FEUERBACH (Speyer 1829-1880 Venice) Italian funeral. 1851. Oil on canvas. Inscribed lower right: Paris. Signed and inscribed verso: A. Feuerbach. Paris. 30.6 × 50 cm. Provenance: - Dr Kayser Collection, Ansbach, 1912. - Galerie Heinemann, Munich, 1912 (on commission from Dr Kayser). - Collection Prof. Dr Rheinstrom, Munich, around 1929. - European private collection, acquired at the Döbritz auction house, Frankfurt, 1970s. - By inheritance, European private collection. Exhibitions: - Munich 1912, exhibition Anselm Feuerbach 1829-1880, Galerie Heinemann, Munich, November 1912, no. 13. - Munich 1929, Feuerbach exhibition to celebrate the 100th birthday of the master, Neue Pinakothek Munich, September to October 1929, no. 15. Literature: - Hermann Uhde-Bernays: Die Ausstellung von Werken Anselm Feuerbachs aus Privatbesitz in der Galerie Heinemann-München, in: Der Cicerone, IV. Jahrg. 23. Heft, 1912, pp. 877-886, ill. p. 879. - Gustav Keyssner: Feuerbach. Eine Auswahl aus dem Lebenswerk des Meisters, Stuttgart 1922, p. 11. - Hermann Uhde-Bernays: Feuerbach. Beschreibender Katalog seiner sämtlichen Gemälde, Munich 1929, p. 50, no. 54 (with illus. on p. 128). The present painting is an early work by the German neoclassicist Anselm Feuerbach, created during his first stay in Paris in 1851. Feuerbach shows us an unusual, mystical composition: led by a torchbearer and pallbearers, a funeral procession of monks moves through the painting. Feuerbach shows us the figures clad in black and white cowls, their heads covered with ghostly hoods. The desolate landscape in which the procession takes place emphasises the transcendental character of this painting, while the crescent moon at the upper edge of the picture further accentuates the effect of the nocturnal scenery. The painting up for auction here thus wonderfully illustrates the artistic expressiveness inherent in Feuerbach's painting. This object marked with * (asterisk) is fully subject to VAT, i.e. VAT will be charged on the hammer price plus buyer's premium. Buyers who present a legally stamped export declaration will be reimbursed the VAT.