Description
This small and charming oil on a wooden panel presents a strong personality, depicting a venerable older man with a mustache smoking a pipe and wearing Tyrolean garb. The painting is signed “XF Wolfle” on the upper right.
Housed in an exquisitely carved wood and gesso period frame – a work of art in itself. This gorgeous piece resides in an ornate Louis XIV Régence style frame adorned by corner rocaille cartouches with floral bosses and an inner running ornament of foliate and berry. In the early 18th century the Louis XIV styles blended into the Régence frame style (c.1715-1723) which placed greater emphasis on the corners and centers. The full Regency style was both opulent and delicate, with the order and linearity of this period giving way to the swirling delicacy of the Rococo.
Franz Xaver Wölfle (1887-1972) was an Austrian painter known for his miniature portraiture, primarily active in the 20th century. In 1907, Wölfle traveled to Munich to study painting at the Academy of Fine Art. Wölfle‘s studies were interrupted by the outbreak of World War I. Upon the war’s conclusion, he began painting highly detailed miniature portraits to support his family. These wonderful miniature masterpieces, often painted using a brush with a single hair, captured the individual character of local Bavaria merchants, farmers, and politicians.
This piece is highly rendered with wisps of curling facial hair, wrinkled skin, and a sheen from the mother-of-pearl buttons. The lighting is dramatic, with a neutral dark brown background and shifting light describing his features and expression. There is a soft look in his eyes as he gazes out of the frame. He wears a blue coat in a brilliant shade and layered shirts of many patterns. The German long-stem pipe he is holding is a traditional style from the early 1900s, featuring a bowl capped with a hinged metal lid. There is an excellent show of materiality across the painting, providing the viewer with an understanding of the feel of his clothing and the pipe in his hands.
This quaint and playful painting is a masterful example of portraiture and would be a treasured addition to a study, library, or den.
With Frame: H=13 in. W=11.5 in. D=2.25 in. 5 lbs.
