oil on canvas, 39 x 32 cm, signed lower right, "A.Lach"

PROVENANCE

until the late 1940s: historic collection of Ervin Weiss (1884–1966) and Branka Weiss (1902–1975); 1947: The Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of Croatia declares the Weiss collection a private collection of public significance; after 1949: the collection is inventoried by the communist regime, followed by confiscation; 1955: it passes into the care of the Modern Gallery, where it is kept for the next 70 years; after 2021: the collection passes into the ownership of the Weiss family heirs, after almost 30 years of legal proceedings for restitution.

Andreas Lach (1817 - 1882) was born in 1817 in Eisgrub (now Lednice, in Czech Moravia), but spent most of his life and artistic career in Vienna, where he died on the 15th of April, 1882. He began his art studies in 1837 at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, under the mentorship of Thomas Ender, Joseph Mössmer, and Sebastian Wegmayr, from whom he adopted a precise technique and sensitivity to details, characteristic of Biedermeier painting. As an active member of the Austrian Art Association, Lach was once a respected member of the Vienna art scene, and his legacy was continued by family members, including his nephew, landscape painter Fritz Lach. Although he painted porcelain during his career, Lach primarily distinguished himself as a painter of still lifes, especially floral and fruit arrangements. His rich-colored achievements and subtle lighting breathe a sense of immediate liveliness and almost tender poetics into typical Biedermeier compositions. ''Still Life with Roses'' is a characteristic achievement for his oeuvre. In a glass vase with colored profiled edges, a rich bunch of white and pink roses is situated. Their physiognomy is recorded with documentary precision - every fold on the crumpled petals, every vein on swollen leaves, even drops of water - are brought to life with detailed brush strokes. In front of the vase with flowers, Lach positioned a voluminously modeled cluster, thus creating a skillfully balanced and unpretentious still life. MM

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