706 - Hans Thoma, ‘Putto on Wallpaper from the Legendary Café Bauer’, Frankfurt am Main, oil painting from 1886, and ‘Cupid on Three Dolphins’, etching from 1908, both framed

Hans Thoma, ‘Putto on Wallpaper from the Legendary Café Bauer’, Frankfurt am Main, oil painting from 1886, and ‘Cupid on Three Dolphins’, etching from 1908, both framed Thoma, 1839 Bernau - 1924 Karlsruhe, German painter and graphic artist, Putto, detail from the interior decoration of Café Bauer, Frankfurt am Main, oil on wallpaper sheet on cardboard, 50 x 23.5 cm, monogrammed, dated by Thomas on the reverse and inscribed, framed with ‘Cupid with Three Dolphins’ (Journey Through Life III), etching from 1908, 27 x 23 cm, signed, with passepartout framed under glass Café Bauer in Frankfurt was a spacious café with a billiards room on the Hauptwache in Frankfurt am Main. It was in operation from 1884 to 1930 and, owing to its central location and superb facilities, was very soon regarded as one of Frankfurt’s leading cafés. It occupied two floors of the Bavariahaus, built in 1883-84, on the corner of Schillerplatz and Schillerstraße. In September 1884, the Berlin café owner Mathias Bauer opened a café on the ground floor and first floor of the central section of the building. The interior decoration of the two-storey café, featuring 100 figurative images (the procession of Bacchus and Gambrinus) on wallpaper panels, was created by Hans Thoma. The nude allegorical figures (signs of the zodiac and winds) in the ceiling paintings caused a stir at the opening and were whitewashed over. It was not until after the turn of the century, once Thoma had become famous, that the frescoes were restored.