2648 - Philipp von Foltz

Philipp von Foltz 1805 Bingen – 1877 Munich The Singer’s Curse. 1837–1838 Oil on wood (central panel inlaid) Signed lower right on central panel: Ph. Foltz. Label on the reverse: Zofingen Art Commission, No. 53 Framed 39 × 44 cm (central panel) Collection of the Neue Pinakothek, Munich, since 1884; private collection, Switzerland; Zofingen Auction House, December 2, 2000, Lot 2280; private collection, Switzerland Friedrich von Boetticher, *Paintings of the Nineteenth Century*, Vol. 1, Dresden 1891, p. 316; Neue Pinakothek (ed.), *Catalog of the Painting Collection of the Royal Neue Pinakothek*, Munich, 1902, p. 38, no. 217 Art Association, Munich, January 1839; Art Association, Frankfurt, Spring 1839; Art Exhibition, Mainz, Summer 1839; Art Exhibition, Dresden, Summer 1840; II. General Art Exhibition, Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne, October 1–November 24, 1861 (the notary Gerpott from Krefeld is listed here as the owner; presumably Wilhelm Jacob Gerpott, 1827–1888) In an architecturally designed historicist frame (107.5 x 69 x 16.5 cm) with three painted panels. A preparatory sketch by Philipp von Foltz for the painting on offer is known to exist; it is now in the Thorvaldsens Museum in Copenhagen (Inv. No. B117). Bertel Thorvaldsen acquired the sketch directly from Foltz in Rome in 1837. The subject of the painting is based on the ballad “The Singer’s Curse,” published in 1814 by Ludwig Uhland (1787–1862), one of the most important poets of Swabian Romanticism. In it, Uhland tells the story of two singers who perform before a tyrannical king. After the king kills the young singer in a fit of rage, the older companion curses him: his kingdom shall perish and his name shall be consigned to oblivion. The ballad thus contrasts the ruler’s worldly power with the enduring power of poetry and art. Auction date: November 28, 2026 Approximate auction time: 9:25 a.m. CET