Hans Makart (Austrian, 1840-1884)

One of Makart's most celebrated and published compositions in the artist's own lifetime, the present work has rarely been seen since it left Europe for Japan in the early 1930s, when it was acquired by the famous collector, Kojiro Matsukata. A powerful shipping magnate from Kawasaki, Matsukata amassed an art collection which included thousands of European paintings, a core group of which formed the basis for the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo.

Makart was one of the most popular artists of belle époque Vienna, whose large and richly decorated studio became a focal point of Viennese society in the 1870s and 1880s. He gained fame at home and abroad for his theatrical interpretations of historical scenes, and struggled to keep up with demand for his portraits and figure paintings. Like the present lot, these latter paintings were notable for their free brushwork and strong sense of colour, which translated into Makart's own style the same sense of glamour and confidence exuded by other fashionable society painters such as Giovanni Boldini and Alfred Stevens.