10th Jun, 2026 12:00
Live Sale: Fine Paintings, Works on Paper and Sculpture June 2026
16
THEODOR BAIERL (GERMAN 1881-1932)
VENUS AT HER TOILET
signed THEODOR BAIERL lower right
oil on panel
38.5 x 31cm; 15 1/4 x 12 1/4in
63 x 59cm; 24 3/4 x 23 1/4in (framed)
Painted circa 1920.
Provenance
The Leicester Galleries (Ernest Brown & Phillips), London
Sale, Dreweatt's Newbury, Peter Nahum at The Leicester Galleries, The Remaining Stock, 24th February 2009, lot 70
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner
Baierl studied at the Munich Academy under Franz von Stuck (1863-1928) and Martin Feuerstein (1856-1931). A true romantic, he immersed himself in the art, love sonnets and pagentry of a distant medieval past, the purity of his palette, poetic compositions and attention to detail reflecting the influence of the Old Masters.
In the present work, painted in the wake of the upheaval of the First World War, the huge trees that arch over Venus with putti and her attendants and the village and mountains in the background suggest the harmony and calm of the Italian painters of the quattrocento. However the curious incongruity of the massive fountain and Baierl's use of saturated blue-greens for the distant hills, belies his Munich secessionist training and give a distinctly modern feel to the composition.
Up until the First World War, Baierl received public and private commissions for frescoes, altar paintings and Stations of the Cross for churches in numerous German towns, including Augsburg, Munich and Schweinfurt. Thereafter such commissions largely ceased and Baierl devoted his time to easel painting.
Sold for £1,500
VENUS AT HER TOILET
signed THEODOR BAIERL lower right
oil on panel
38.5 x 31cm; 15 1/4 x 12 1/4in
63 x 59cm; 24 3/4 x 23 1/4in (framed)
Painted circa 1920.
Provenance
The Leicester Galleries (Ernest Brown & Phillips), London
Sale, Dreweatt's Newbury, Peter Nahum at The Leicester Galleries, The Remaining Stock, 24th February 2009, lot 70
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner
Baierl studied at the Munich Academy under Franz von Stuck (1863-1928) and Martin Feuerstein (1856-1931). A true romantic, he immersed himself in the art, love sonnets and pagentry of a distant medieval past, the purity of his palette, poetic compositions and attention to detail reflecting the influence of the Old Masters.
In the present work, painted in the wake of the upheaval of the First World War, the huge trees that arch over Venus with putti and her attendants and the village and mountains in the background suggest the harmony and calm of the Italian painters of the quattrocento. However the curious incongruity of the massive fountain and Baierl's use of saturated blue-greens for the distant hills, belies his Munich secessionist training and give a distinctly modern feel to the composition.
Up until the First World War, Baierl received public and private commissions for frescoes, altar paintings and Stations of the Cross for churches in numerous German towns, including Augsburg, Munich and Schweinfurt. Thereafter such commissions largely ceased and Baierl devoted his time to easel painting.
Auction: Live Sale: Fine Paintings, Works on Paper and Sculpture June 2026, 10th Jun, 2026
L.S. Lowry’s expansive Figures on a Beach (lot 39) is the lead painting in our June sale that ranges from the Old Masters to Modern British and post-War & Contemporary. Many of the works have been in the same collection for decades; a number have fascinating stories attached.
The first seven lots of Dutch and Flemish Old Masters are from the collection of Paul Wertheimer. Acquired almost hundred years ago, Wertheimer brought the works to England when he fled Germany in 1938. Leading the group are 17th century panels attributed to Moses van Uyttenbroeck and Lucas van Uden, the latter a reduced copy of Rubens’ original in the Royal Collection (lots 1 & 4). Another early panel, a portrait of Cornelisz. Van Beresteyn, is by a follower of Michiel Jansz. van Miereveld (lot 9).
Works by fellow artists and friends Augustus John and Edgar Augustus ‘Loben’ Slade (lots 20-25) feature John’s early portrait of Loben and five works on paper by the lesser known Slade, nephew of the founder of the Slade School of Art, one of which is a watercolour of Jessie McNeill, John’s model, muse and mistress.
Also in the sale are seven works by Australian artists, including Jeffrey Smart, William Blamire Young and Leonard French, all from a private collection in Surrey (lots 30-36), and ten paintings from a Cheshire Collection that features the work of Helen Bradley, Edouard Cortes and Marcel Dyf together with bracing coastal views by Campbell Archibald Mellon (lots 40-48).
A small and fascinating work on paper is by Paul Nash. It captures the view of Harry Rocks off Ballard Down from Nash's flat in Swanage where he was living in the mid-1930s and which he incorporated into his Surrealist work ahead of the major Surrealist exhibition in London of 1936 (lot 27).
Beside the Lowry beach scene, other post-War works include an important early sculpture by James Tower (lot 52), a leading sculptor-ceramicist of his generation. Other post-War abstract works include examples by Frank Avray Wilson, James Hull and Etienne Beothy (lots 50, 51, 55 & 57).
For more information please contact us | pictures@olympiaauctions.com | +44 (0)20 7806 5541
Viewing
PUBLIC EXHIBITION:
Sunday 7th June: 12pm - 4pm
Monday 8th June: 10am - 8pm (Drinks 5 - 8pm)
Tuesday 9th June: 10am - 5pm
