Caspar RITTER (Esslingen am Neckar, 1861 - Ermatingen, 1923) Chained slave Oil on canvas (Original canvas) Signed and dated 'Casp. Ritter 1884' lower left Chained slave, oil on canvas, signed and dated, by C. Ritter 33.27 x 26.77 in. 84.5 x 68.0 cm Provenance: Anonymous sale; Stuttgart, Nagel, 10 October 2013, no. 742 ; Private collection, Paris Born in Esslingen into a family of Swiss industrialists, Caspar Ritter trained at the Winterthur School of Drawing before joining the Munich Academy in 1882, where he studied under Alois Gabl, Ludwig von Herterich and Ludwig von Löfftz. After teaching at the Städel Institute in Frankfurt from 1887, he became a professor at the Karlsruhe Academy of Fine Arts the following year, a post he held until 1919. On the strength of his early successes at exhibitions in Munich and Berlin, he soon specialised in genre painting and portraiture, winning a gold medal at the Große Berliner Kunstausstellung in 1896. Also tempted by history painting, he presented a Salome in Paris at the 1900 Universal Exhibition (cat. no. 128), before being made a knight of the Order of Berthold I by Frederick I of Baden in 1902. Dated 1884, our painting is a rare early work by Caspar Ritter and bears witness to the precocity of his artistic ambitions. At the age of twenty-three, the painter depicts a young, half-naked black slave, seated, eyes downcast, restrained by clearly visible irons on his right wrist. While the white drapery that serves as his clothing is quickly discarded with a few brushstrokes in the lower part of the canvas, Ritter has finely treated the model's athletic figure, distinguishing it from the dark stone wall in the background by adding a subtle halo of light. With this iconography, which is as singular as it is emotional, the artist wanted to offer a powerful illustration of one of the main issues at stake at the Berlin Conference, which opened on 15 November 1884, on the initiative of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. Also known as the West Africa Conference, it lasted until February 1885 and brought together Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, the Ottoman Empire, Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Sweden-Norway and the United States. While, for the German Chancellor, its aim was to ensure freedom of trade and navigation on the great African rivers, the Niger and the Congo, it also fulfilled a more essential humanitarian mission: to recall the ban on the slave trade and invite the signatories to contribute to its definitive extinction. By bringing the viewer face to face with the barbaric realities of servitude, our painting reflects Caspar Ritter's commitment to the fight against the unacceptable. Caspar RITTER (Esslingen am Neckar, 1861 - Ermatingen, 1923) 84.5 x 68.0 cm Born in Esslingen into a family of Swiss industrialists, Caspar Ritter trained at the Winterthur School of Drawing before entering the Munich Academy in 1882, where he studied under Alois Gabl, Ludwig von Herterich and Ludwig von Löfftz. After teaching at the Städel Institute in Frankfurt from 1887, he became a professor at the Karlsruhe Academy of Fine Arts the following year, a post he held until 1919. On the strength of his early successes at exhibitions in Munich and Berlin, he soon specialised in genre painting and portraiture, winning a gold medal at the Große Berliner Kunstausstellung in 1896. Also tempted by history painting, he presented a Salome in Paris at the 1900 Universal Exhibition (cat. no. 128), before being made a knight of the Order of Berthold I by Frederick I of Baden in 1902. Dated 1884, our painting is a rare early work by Caspar Ritter and bears witness to the precocity of his artistic ambitions. At the age of twenty-three, the painter depicts a young, half-naked black slave, seated, eyes downcast, restrained by clearly visible irons on his right wrist. While the white drapery that serves as his clothing is quickly discarded with a few brushstrokes in the lower part of the canvas, Ritter has finely treated the model's athletic figure, distinguishing it from the dark stone wall in the background by adding a subtle halo of light. With this iconography, which is as singular as it is emotional, the artist wanted to offer a powerful illustration of one of the main issues at stake at the Berlin Conference, which opened on 15 November 1884, on the initiative of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. Also known as the West Africa Conference, it lasted until February 1885 and brought together Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, the Ottoman Empire, Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Sweden-Norway and the United States. While, for the German Chancellor, its aim was to ensure freedom of trade and navigation on the great African rivers, the Niger and the Congo, it also fulfilled a more essential humanitarian mission: to recall the ban on the slave trade and invite the signatories to contribute to its definitive extinction. By bringing the viewer face to face with the barbaric realities of servitude, our painting reflects Caspar Ritter's commitment to the fight against the unacceptable.