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The Noodle Eater, 1849

Leopold Museum,
Vienna
Oil on canvas
61.2×52.4 cm

Artists

  • Johann Baptist Reiter

    (Linz 1813–1890 Vienna)

Unfortunately not on display at the moment
Against a darkened background, a young woman in rural garb is seen in the picture foreground, sitting and eating. The girl’s gaze is not on the handled earthen pot in her left hand, nor on the forkful of noodles in her right, which she blows to cool the food, but goes out into empty space. She seems to be absorbed in thought. Considering the unanswered but self-suggesting question of what the reason for the girl’s thoughtfulness might be, the painter Johann Baptist Reiter (1813–1890) provides a narrative element to go with his work The Noodle Eater. Intertwining everyday activities with little stories was typical for the genre painting of the Biedermeier epoch, particularly so in Vienna where the oil painting was created in 1849.

MK, 2021

Object data

Artist/author
  • Johann Baptist Reiter
Title
The Noodle Eater
Date
1849
Art movement
Biedermeier
Category
Painting
Material​/technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
61.2×52.4 cm
Signature
Signed and dated upper right: J. B. Reiter; Vienna [1]849
Credit line
Leopold Museum, Vienna, Inv. 4718
Inventory access
Contributed to the Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung in 1994
Selection of Reference works
  • Körper, Gesicht, Seele. Frauenbilder vom 16. bis ins 21. Jahrhundert, hrsg. von Elisabeth Leopold, Wien 2006 (Ausst.-Kat. Leopold Museum, Wien, 09.06.2006-02.10.2006).
Keywords
woman/girlportraitcool food before eating (blowing)fashionable womancontainer of ceramics: jar/jug/vasesitting figure (fem.)clothes/costumehead-gear

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Provenance

Provenance research
Leopold Museum i

Auktion: 23.02.1989, Sotheby’s Wien, Österreichisches Biedermeier – Gemälde, Aquarelle und Kunsthandwerk, Los Nr. 127, Abb.;
Dr. Rudolf Leopold, Wien (1989-1994); (1)
Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung, Wien (seit 1994).

  1. Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum, Katalog zu “Bilder des Lebens. Johann Baptist Reiter und der Realismus des 19. Jahrhunderts”, Linz 1990, S. 49, Nr. 116a, Abb. Taf. 71

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Search in collection

woman/girlportraitcool food before eating (blowing)fashionable womancontainer of ceramics: jar/jug/vasesitting figure (fem.)clothes/costumehead-gear