Young Man with Pipe, 1825

After Friedrich Gauermann (1807–1862) had began studying at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts in 1824, he dedicated much of his time to portrait studies. The present work is a bust portrait of a young man with a pipe. Gauermann focuses exclusively on the coarse features of the man, whose gaze seems to ignore the observers completely. His traditional costume and the background are hinted at in sparsely placed open brushstrokes. Cleverly placed highlights on the sleeves give the picture a vivid appearance and correspond to the incident light that makes the features of the man stand out. Gauermann created several studies with similar motifs, including Boy Smoking a Pipe, and later used them for paintings.

AGW, 2023