628 - Albert ANKER (1831–1910)

Albert ANKER (1831–1910) Portrait of Alfred Zuber (1865–1938) Oil on canvas, signed and dated “1868” in the lower left corner H. 58 m W. 40 cm HVS Provenance: Madeleine Zuber (1898–1981) Collection, daughter of the subject, then passed down through the family to the present day. Exhibition: Martigny, Switzerland, Pierre Gianadda Foundation, “Anker,” December 19, 2003, to May 24, 2004, No. 62 (label on the reverse). Bibliography: Robert Meister, “Albert Anker and Children in Alsace,” in Galerie Stuker Blätter, No. 13, Bern, n.p., 1985, pp. 7–10. Thérèse Bhattacharya-Stettler and Sandor Kuthy, “Albert Anker (1831–1910); Werkkatalog der Gemälde und Ölstudien,” Bern, Kunstmuseum; Basel, Wiese, 1995, No. 125, p. 102 (ill.). Thérèse Bhattacharya-Stettler (ed.), “Anker,” Martigny, Fondation Pierre Gianadda, 2003, No. 62, p. 165 (ill.). Our young model’s surname traces back to the famous Alsatian dynasty of wallpaper manufacturers. Indeed, her father, Ernest Zuber (1838–1906), grandson of the founder Jean Zuber (1773–1852), was vice president of the Société Industrielle de Mulhouse and a key figure in the family business. However, the young Alfred turned his career toward medicine and became a doctor and later chief of pediatrics. On November 3, 1896, in Paris, he married his first cousin Anna Zuber (1872–1931), a painter and watercolorist. Albert Anker spent time with Ernest Zuber’s family in Alsace, where he painted portraits of their children: our subject had this honor a second time in 1875, three years before the portrait of her sister Catherine (1874–1952), whose “angelic face” the painter praised (both in private collections, Nos. 218 and 256 in the catalogue raisonné). This portrait was paid for at a price of 200 francs on September 3, 1868, according to the artist’s sales ledger.