44. Minerva [1920.]

In ancient Rome, Minerva, the central figure of this painting, was the goddess of war and wisdom, the protector of arts and craftsmen. In the history of Hellenistic civilization, she was often identified with the goddess Athena Parthenos, who held an equally exalted position and cult status in ancient Greece. The painter Robert Auer, a student of the Vienna and Munich Fine Art Academies (1891/1896), in the "genre of Greco-Roman painting", as Petra Vugrinec1 outlines those parts of the Croatian painters' opus inspired by ancient mythology and Hellenistic tradition, has repeatedly proven to be a skilled master and inspired interpreter of their symbolism. Apart from Munich student drawing and painting exercises on plaster busts of Greek and Roman giants of thought and written word, Auer early on independently delved into the arsenal of ancient motifs, from Hellenistic culture of dress and habitation to characters from mythology. At the turn of the 19th century, he painted seriously and creatively potent genre scenes with youthful beauties adorning Homer's bronze bust with garlands of roses, placed against the wall of a villa with a beautiful floor mosaic. Soon the first commission arrived and in 1913, Auer, then a professor at the Temporary Higher School of Art and Crafts in Zagreb, painted a relatively large oil painting of the Greek goddess Athena Parthenos for the National Library. In his continued creative and public work, Auer mostly dedicated himself to painting portraits and acts, gaining exceptional popularity in the Zagreb art and general cultural milieu. Antiquity and Hellenistic culture as inspirations and motifs for his paintings faded somewhat until 1920 and a new, fresher and freer painting expression in interpreting mythological themes such as the goddess Minerva. A new era is on the horizon, the change of styles is accelerating, young forces of Croatian modern art in Zagreb are bringing the spirit and experience of Prague, Paris, and even Düsseldorf art scene, so it’s understandable that the doyens of the first phase of Croatian modern art - like Robert Auer - took some of it from their younger colleagues. Robert Auer's goddess of war Minerva no longer has a firm shape and a strict warlike look. She is now a ripe beauty with a seductive smile, reflecting a brighter, cheerier and natural side of her status in the chapter of Roman deities. BRP

References

P. Vugrinec in the exhibition catalogue Allegory and Arcadia / Ancient motifs in modern Croatian art, GKD, 2023., p. 20.

Dimensions

width 88.5 cm, height 44.5 cm

Description

oil on canvas, signed and dated bottom right, in red, "R. Auer 1920."

Dating

1920.

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