Carl von Häberlin (1832-1911), Attributed to - Solitärbaum vor einer Mauer

Solitaire Tree in Front of a Wall, 1886
Carl von Häberlin (1832–1911), attribution – Oil on canvas, on the back old label reads “Prof. Häberlein / Baum / 1886”

WORK
A single, mighty deciduous tree stands facing the viewer at the center of the image; its crown almost fills the entire area. The gnarled trunk sits broad in the grass, the branches extend into the fine twigs, the foliage rendered in countless small dots of green, ocher, and brown. Behind the trunk runs a low stone wall across the picture, in front of it a strip of grass, above a bright, calm sky. No figure, no path, no view: a portrait of this one tree, with the character of a study from nature.

REVERSE SIDE AND ATTRIBUTION
The painting is unsigned on the front. On the back wall sits an old label with a black border, inscribed in ink “Prof. Häberlein / Baum / 1880”; the last digit is rubbed at the edge, clearly legible is “188”. Above it the red seal “Hermann Otto · Vergolder · Stuttgart · Werkstätte für moderne Bildereinrahmung,” also in blue pencil “No 12” and large in red chalk “65.”
We attribute the work to Carl von Häberlin. He was a professor at the Royal Art School in Stuttgart from 1868 to 1885 and among the best-known painters of Württemberg; the painting was framed in Stuttgart, where he taught and lived. The label reads the name “Häberlein” instead of “Häberlin.” We have not consulted a catalogue raisonné, therefore we present the work as an attribution.

ARTIST
Carl von Häberlin (Oberesslingen 1832 – Stuttgart 1911) studied at the art school in Stuttgart, at the academy in Düsseldorf with Theodor Hildebrandt and Wilhelm von Schadow, and from 1860 in Munich with Karl Theodor von Piloty. From 1868 to 1885 he was a professor at the Royal Art School in Stuttgart; among his students was Christian Landenberger. His historical painting “Die Aufhebung des Klosters Alpirsbach” is in the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, “Die Weiber von Schorndorf” in the Stadtmuseum Schorndorf. In Konstanz he painted 26 wall pictures in the cloister of the former Dominican monastery, the present Inselhotel. In 1901 he received the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Württemberg Crown, with which personal nobility was associated.

Technique: Oil on canvas.
Size of image: 47.8 x 39 cm
Frame size: 58.5 x 49.5 x 5 cm
Framed weight: 2,300 g
Signature: front not signed; back label “Prof. Häberlein / Baum / 1886”.

PROVENANCE
From the Doris Fliegner collection. Doris Fliegner was a teacher in Salzgitter and Helmstedt and spent her life collecting art, with a focus on the Braunschweig region. Unlike Worpswede or Dachau, Braunschweig never had an artists’ colony; the art life was carried by the Art Association (founded 1832), the School of Arts and Crafts from which today’s University of the Arts emerged, artists’ clubs such as the “Moist Brush” (1881) and civic collectors – collectors like Doris Fliegner. Her collection includes works by Braunschweig painters Karl Neuss and Hedwig Hornburg and works by the Salzgitter painter Gustav Hagemann. When and where she acquired this painting is not recorded.

CONDITION
Good condition. Fine craquelure with age, especially in the light sky; paint layer closed. Not cleaned, not restored. Please regard the photos as part of the description.

FRAME AND HANGING
Gloss black profiled frame with gilded inner edge; at the corners small scratches in the lacquer. Backboard made of cardboard, with paper strips glued in the frame, the strips torn. Hanger at the top. The frame is part of the lot.

SHIPPING
Framed shipping, corners and surface protected. Pick-up in Helmstedt possible.

Frame: Gloss black profiled frame with gilded inner edge; small lacquer scratches at the corners. Cardboard back panel with torn paper strips.