Hermann Herzog (American, 1832-1932). Deer in Gulph Hummock. Oil on canvas. 14-1/2 x 18 inches (36.8 x 45.7 cm). Signed ...

Description

Hermann Herzog (American, 1832-1932)
Deer in Gulph Hummock
Oil on canvas
14-1/2 x 18 inches (36.8 x 45.7 cm)
Signed lower left: H. Herzog
Inscribed on the stretcher: Deer Pond

Property of a Distinguished Gentleman

PROVENANCE:
Sotheby's, New York, December 3, 1992, lot 13 (as Florida Live Oaks with Deer);
Private collection;
Sotheby's, New York, December 4, 2002, lot 111 (as Florida Live Oaks with Deer);
Private collection, Florida.

Deer in Gulf Hummock encapsulates Herzog's distinct stylistic take on the Hudson River and Düsseldorf Schools of painting. Less dramatic and surreal than the likes of Albert Bierstadt, to whom he is often compared, Herzog is appreciated for his singular technical skill and supremely realistic depictions of wilderness. Deer in Gulph Hummock's sublime details--true-to-nature live oaks, a calm pond reflecting a cloudy and darkening sky, and the regal animals at home in the virgin landscape--speak to why Herzog achieved unparalleled commercial success within his lifetime.

Born in Bremen, Germany, Hermann Ottomar Herzog became a student of the Düsseldorf Academy by 1850. Among his instructors were Hans Gude, Andreas Achenbach, and J.W. Schirmer. His patrons soon included the likes of Queen Victoria. Despite the near-immediate success of his a Grafenberg studio, Herzog decided to emigrate from Germany to the United States in 1871, promptly declaring his intent for naturalization at the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. Herzog was naturalized as a US citizen in 1876, his family following him to America in 1877. Initially finding success as a painter of the western landscape in the New World, Herzog's most iconic work, the peak of his oeuvre, is perhaps his body of depictions of Florida's wilderness largely executed after the artist's move to Gainesville in 1893.

Although his post-1870s paintings are considered American, Herzog rarely dated his work. Herzog's paintings are in numerous museum collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento; Cincinnati Art Museum; and Reading Public Museum, Reading, Pennsylvania. Deer in Gulf Hummock incorporates several key characteristics of museum-quality Herzog paintings: a serene and Florida-like swamp scene, incredible technical precision in the depiction of location-specific flora and fauna, and a sublime albeit not overdramatic exegesis of the real 'El Dorado' inherent in the New World.


More information about Herzog, Hermann. See also: Herman Herzog, Hermann Ottomar Herzog Artist.



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