Nov 03, 2021 - Sale 2586

Sale 2586 - Lot 684

Price Realized: $ 2,625
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 5,000
EDOUARD GURK
(Vienna 1801-1841 Jerusalem)
An Outdoor Theatrical Presentation for the Vienna Rothschild Family.

Watercolor and gouache on cream wove paper. 280x400 mm; 11x15 3/4 inches.

Provenance: Baron Alfons de Rothschild, Vienna; thence to his widow, Baroness Clarice de Rothschild, Vienna; gifted to Eric Stiebel, Vienna; private collection, New York; private collection, Santa Fe.

Gurk was an Austrian landscape painter and printmaker, who worked for the Habsburg Court under Emperors Francis I and Ferdinand I. In 1840, he traveled to the Middle East with the Austrian fleet, by invitation of Rear Admiral Francesco Bandiera. Disembarking at Beirut, he continued down the coast, documenting the exploits of Archduke Friedrich, who had recently been awarded the Military Order of Maria Theresa. However, when Gurk arrived in Jerusalem, already ill from the voyage, he came down with typhoid fever and died just three days later.