Alfred von Wierusz-Kowalski

Goupil & Cie / Knoedler Gallery, New York, stock no. 5724 (purchased from the artist 30 April 1887);

From whom acquired by Pauline Pfau Keppler (1852–1927), Inwood, New York, 24 December 1888;

Private collection, USA;

Anonymous sale, New York, Christie's, 27 October 1982, lot 93;

Purchased from the above by the family of the present owner;

Thence by descent.

M. Knoedler & Co. stock book, book 4, p. 89, row 24, no. 5724.

The present work has a label from Goupil et Cie gallery, Fifth Avenue, New York on the stretcher. Goupil were a prominent art dealership in Paris in the 19th Century which represented the artist. While Wierusz-Kowalski lived and worked in Munich at the time, the collaboration with Goupil enabled him to sell his paintings internationally, particularly to American collectors. Founded in Paris, Goupil soon established an international network, with galleries in London, New York and Australia. The New York branch of Goupil gallery was established in 1848, however, it was then known as Goupil, Vibert et Cie, managed by Michael Knoedler and located on Broadway. Knoedler bought the gallery from Goupil in 1857 and continued trading under the Goupil name. The gallery was located on Fifth Avenue from the 1890s onwards until 1925. The present work was consigned to Goupil, New York by Wierusz Kowalski in the late 1880s shortly after its conception. The painting was then purchased from Goupil & Cie New York, by Pauline Pfau Keppler (1852–1927) and her husband, the Austrian-born American caricaturist Joseph Ferdinand Keppler (1838–1894), who was a leading figure in the American art and publishing scene as the founder of the influential satirical magazine Puck. It is likely that the painting has remained in private American collections ever since.

Resident in Munich from 1873, Alfred Wierusz-Kowalski was a painter of Polish customs and rural life. He became best known for his depictions of riders, hunters, sledge and coach rides in the snow, and wolves roaming the Polish countryside. 

Wierusz-Kowalski approached his subjects narratively in compositions full of movement, colour and attention to detail. Finding great success as an artist in Germany, he nevertheless returned regularly to Poland, whose landscapes would remain the main inspiration for his work. In the present work, the focus is firmly placed on the Caucasian rider and his white horse, which are highlighted by the vivid colours of the open steppe and the bright blue sky. 

From the outset, Wierusz-Kowalski's painting held particular appeal to Americans, with his evocative works attracting numerous collectors from New York, Baltimore and Philadelphia. Many of the most prominent American buyers were urban businessmen who romanticised country life as beneficial to good health and morals - particularly appealing as their fortunes were made from the industrialisation of rural communities at home.

The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by Eliza Ptaszyńska based on photographs.