7012 - Corinth, Lovis

Corinth, Lovis Fridericus Rex: Rejected Sheets and Second Versions 13 sheets of lithographs on thick, slightly grained vellum. 1921. Approx. 33 x 25 cm (45 x 35 cm). All signed “Lovis Corinth.” See Müller 601, 606, 607, 608, 611, 614, possibly 637, as well as 6 sheets not listed in Müller. Paul Eipper, from whose prominent collection the series originates, was at that time production manager at Fritz Gurlitt’s publishing house. He hid the sheets, along with other works, in wall niches in his house in Kleinmachnow, built in 1939, where they survived the Wehrmacht’s seizure of the house, shelling, looting, and requisitioning by the Red Army. All of the sheets presented here are rejected and second versions that remained unknown to Müller and were not included in the two final portfolios. In some cases, Corinth added color notations to the lithographic chalk on the drawings themselves, which wonderfully reveals his working process and suggests that this series, like the two “Fridericus Rex” portfolios, was also intended to have a colored version. The same unusually thick vellum was used here as for the suites in the series. Six sheets depict second versions of the motifs “Hohenfriedberg,” “The Death of Schwerin near Prague,” “Frederick at Kolin (Kollin),” “At the Camp of Liegnitz,” “The King at Leuthen,” and “Torgau,” as well as possibly “Death Mask” (Müller 601, 606, 607, 608, 611, 614, and 637), all of which are stamped “Second Version” on the reverse, presumably by Paul Eipper; seven sheets bear the stamp “Rejected Sheet” on the reverse, namely the motifs “Count von Brühl,” “Armory,” “Portrait of a Nobleman” (possibly the Old Dessauer), two sheets titled “Male Noble Portrait” and “Female Noble Portrait” (possibly Luise Ulrike, sister of Frederick the Great and later Queen of Sweden). The 13 sheets, like the two suites, are extremely rare, as nearly all of their prints were destroyed in a fire at Hermann Birkholz’s printing shop on Berlin’s Lützowstraße. Absolutely magnificent, chalky prints with full margins. Rarissimum. Provenance: Fritz Gurlitt Verlag, Berlin Paul Eipper Collection, Kleinmachnow, later Lochham / Veronika Eipper Neumeister, Munich, Auction 33, May 15, 2003, Lot 232 Private collection, Munich - Please ask for condition reports for individual lots, as the condition is usually not mentioned in the catalog. - Please ask for condition reports for individual lots, as the condition is usually not mentioned in the catalog.