12 March 2014

"The Irritating Gentleman" (1874)

"Berthold Woltze was a German painter who was born in 1829. Several works by the artist have been sold at auction, including 'The Irritating Gentleman' sold at Dorotheum '19th Century Paintings' in 2011 for $43,737. The artist died in 1896."
I love the detail in this painting - the leather strap for adjusting the window, perhaps a small tear on the young lady's cheek.  And especially her gaze at the viewer, as though appealing for assistance.
 

Via Eva's Blog and Large Size Paintings.

7 comments:

  1. I take it these are seats in a train?

    Lurker111

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    1. Here you go -

      https://www.google.com/search?q=train+carriage+window+leather+strap&biw=1445&bih=929&tbm=isch&imgil=muw2w_z9TA4d3M%253A%253Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fencrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com%252Fimages%253Fq%253Dtbn%253AANd9GcS8EelooRGUJ_91vbN__5XEcxxiNUpOL3VyqpoFPblFhxQKGUOn2g%253B330%253B220%253BqWgDRXgJrnJ9VM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.micbinks.co.uk%25252Fleisure11%25252Fisle-of-wight3.htm&source=iu&usg=__o2RvWzp_IrZ3sQqpwe3jDaQ6bj8%3D&sa=X&ei=4L8gU_AcwdrIAayfgMAB&ved=0CCoQ9QEwAQ#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=muw2w_z9TA4d3M%253A%3BqWgDRXgJrnJ9VM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.micbinks.co.uk%252Fleisure11%252Fimages%252Fiow177f.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.micbinks.co.uk%252Fleisure11%252Fisle-of-wight3.htm%3B330%3B220

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  2. It's interesting to see that things have not changed in nearly 200 years -- a boor (and a bore) can still bother a well-mannered young woman with impunity. And no one notices or rescues her!

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  3. She seems to be in mourning too--making it especially insensitive.

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  4. Reminds me of sitting in a cafe in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Bloody hipsters

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  5. I have become intrigued with this image. It is of course about a horrible man harassing an obviously distraught and mourning young woman. But it is so very much more. This was painted shortly after the Franco Prussian War. At a symbolic level, who is the young woman mourning in her apparent relative poverty (with the carpet bag)? What does the boorish man represent? And look at the older man in the background, also looking distraught. This seems to represent the population torn by war, grieving and distressed, while the lords of war go gleefully on. At a societal level, this is how things work. Those who profit from suffering just go on, with their relative wealth and lack of disregard for life and death. This is not just about a young woman, begging for our help, and knowing from her expression, she will not get it, it is about the human condition, the victims of the industry of death knowing full well they will get no help.

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