873 - Wilhelm Pramme, village idyll by a lake, church with twin towers behind the reed belt, Harz painter

Wilhelm Pramme, village idyll by a lake, church with twin towers behind the reed belt, Harz painter (1898 Halberstadt – 1965 Wernigerode), oil on canvas, signed lower left, inscribed verso "Wilh. Pramme", the silhouette of a church with two towers behind a belt of reeds in the water in evening light, the architecture veiled in haze, on the left houses on the shore, in the foreground yellow reed stalks, condition commensurate with age, craquelure, stretcher mark in the canvas, minimal paint losses in places, minimal dent with paint loss at top centre, image 30x37.5 cm (HxW), framed, frame rubbed, frame width 3.5 cm Wilhelm Pramme was born in Halberstadt in 1898 as the son of a cigar maker and completed an apprenticeship as a lithographer. With the painter Walter Gemm he set out on a journey around the world and later travelled alone through Austria, Hungary, Italy, Greece, Egypt, Ceylon, India and Afghanistan, earning his living by painting. In 1930 Wernigerode became his adopted home, and he died there in 1965. In his will he bequeathed half of his estate to the Harzmuseum Wernigerode, and in the exhibition "Die Harzmaler" he was counted among the Harz painters of the 20th century.