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Lot description
(Königswinter 1813–1879 Düsseldorf) The Holy Family with a lamb, signed, dated F. Ittenbach 1868, oil on canvas, 100 x 70 cm, framed Provenance: Private Collection, Germany. Catalogued in: Heinrich Finke, Der Madonnenmaler Franz Itttenbach (1813–1879), Cologne 1898, p. 91 (titled “Die heilige Familie mit dem Schäfchen”). Compare: Bela Kleinschmidt, Franz Ittenbach, Monographien zur Geschichte der christlichen Kunst, Mönchengladbach, 1911, p. 23, plate XXXII. As one of the central artists of the Nazarene-School, Franz Ittenbach devoted himself primarily to Christian themes and earning him the nickname ‘Madonna painter’. The present painting is therefore exemplary of Ittenbach’s artistic work. Ittenbach places the Holy Family in a garden on the outskirts of the city. The praying Mother of Christ sits on a low stone bench with the sleeping baby Jesus resting on her lap on a white linen cloth. At Mary’s feet, a lamb turns its head towards the child. Joseph, leaning on a shepherd’s crook, watches over the scene. His simple leather apron and tools, an axe and a set square, ground the sacred scene in an everyday setting. The Nazarene ideal of a well-considered and tranquil depiction is unmistakably evident. The composition is clearly structured: the figures are closely related to one another, forming a cohesive group that dominates the foreground. There are no dramatic gestures. Instead, the focus is on precise drawing and clear contouring, reminiscent of the early Renaissance masters. Between 1857 and 1869, Ittenbach created several versions of the same pictorial theme. This painting was created in 1868, the same year as a larger version which is in the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin (inv. no. A I 36).