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Oil on cardboard Germany, around 1908 Heinrich von Zügel (1850-1941) - German impressionist Signed lower left "H. Zügel" Overall dimensions, framed: 39 x 53 cm Good condition Provenance: from an old Eastern German private collection; originally bought in a Danish auction house 25 years ago Heinrich von Zügel is one of the most famous German impressionists whose small animal paintings can be found in many museums and collections. The highest auction record for this artist has been achieved in 2001, when a painting with a sleeping shepherd dog next to his flock fetched almost 165.000 Euros. This oil painting by one of the most famous German painters Heinrich von Zügel depicts two cows in the moorland in the early morning hours. Heinrich von Zügel has painted the same motif several times and one copy is in the possession of the Neue Pinakothek in Munich and a watercolour has just recently been sold in a German auction house. Von Zügel is, amongst artists such as Max Liebermann and Lovis Corinth, one of the renowned German impressionists. He began painting outdoors in the late 19υth century and concentrated on creating a natural overall impression through a close study on the effect of light. He painted animals in an interaction with different elements, mainly water, but also air and light. This can be observed in many of his paintings from around 1908 on and is also notable in the soft change of his colour palette. The painting at hand gives proof of the artist's intentions. The two cows function as a mere staffage; the actual main person is the morning sun that is slowly pushing its way through the cloud filled sky and imbuing the canvas in the dull light that only occurs in the very early morning hours. The cattle turn away from the first glimpses of sunlight and try to enjoy their last few hours or maybe minutes of sleep. The white cow, whose face is turned towards the beholder, has its eyes still half closed and makes a very sleepy impression. In 1930 Heinrich von Zügel was granted an honorary doctorate by the faculty of veterinary medicine in Giessen, Germany. In the introductory remarks, his talents were nicely summed up: "Honored as the greatest animal painter, who with his exceptional works, manages to capture the character as well as the soul of animals set into harmonious landscapes, that due to the perception of light and the air, comprehend in to a perfect execution. (...)". The painting is in an age related good condition. Around the edges of the cardboard you see traces of the framing. The black paint shows some craquelure and at the lower right hand corner and the upper left hand corner there is minor paint loss. The painting is signed in the lower left hand corner with "H. Zügel". The overall dimensions, framed are 39 x 53 cm and without the frame: 24 x 38 cm. Heinrich von Zügel (1850-1941) Heinrich von Zügel started taking his first drawing classes and practiced the study of animals at the tender age of 14. He received a scholarship in 1869, which enabled him to study at the Art School in Stuttgart under Bernhard von Neher (1806-1886) and Heinrich von Rustige (1810-1900), where he came across oil paint for the first time. As off 1871 he gained international success and in 1878 he took part in the Great Exhibition in Paris. Study trips to Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and England followed. Especially the trips to Belgium and the Netherlands brought von Zügel closer to Impressionism and familiarized him with the art of paintingen plein air. With the beginning of the 1880s, Zügel painted in the moor landscape around the German city Dachau and began to paint the animals more as a natural part of the landscape and not as protagonists as before. In 1888 he was made an honorary member of the Art Academy of Munich, where he started teaching the subject of animal painting. Alfred Lichtwark, the director of the "Kunsthalle Hamburg" commissioned him to arrange a collection of paintings of Hamburg. He taught at the Academy until his 70υth Birthday and died in Munich at the age of 91 in 1941.