Lot 62

Beneš Knüpfer (1844 - 1910) SHIPWRECK AT SEA

Beneš Knüpfer first launched his art career at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, moving on to the Academy in Munich to study historical painting under Karl von Piloty in 1870. Nine years later he went on a study trip to Rome and remained there, never returning to his native country. It is remarkable that unlike the flood of young foreign artists who came to study in Italy, it was not Classicist or Renaissance art that most visibly influenced Knüpfer's art. What is reflected most in Knüpfer's paintings is the sea, highly romanticized with figures of Naiads, Sirens, dolphins, Tritons and other mythological beings. This particular subtle format of stormy sea with naiad in the foreground is a typical example of the Painter's handwriting.