With a strong following from Jewish buyers in particular, they are also by far his most commercial works.
The Viennese artist initially trained as a gilder, intending to follow in his father’s footsteps, but, after gaining a place as a guest student at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts and studying under Christian Griepenkerl between 1884-85, he soon became a full-time painter.
Although he was Catholic, he produced a large number characterful studies of Jewish figures in Vienna such as A Yeshiva boy reading that sold for £52,000 at Bonhams in September 2018 – a sale that raised the bar for the artist in terms of his UK auction presence.
Age contrast
A contrasting study of an elderly figure emerged at the Adam Partridge (20% buyer’s premium) sale in Macclesfield on September 15-17.
The 18 x 13½in (46 x 34cm) signed oil on board came from a private vendor in London who was known to buy works from London auction rooms in the 1960s and is now scaling back.
Offered unframed, it had a few scratches and marks, including a vertical mark running from the beard down, but nevertheless drew strong interest against a tempting estimate of just £100-150.
It was eventually knocked down at £2950 to an online buyer in Jerusalem, a solid mid-range sum for the artist.
