01 painting, The amorous game, Hans Makart's Richard III Courting Lady Anne, with Footnotes, #99

Hans Makart, Austrian, 1840 - 1884

Richard III Courting Lady Anne, c. 1869

Oil on panel

78.5 by 59cm., 31 by 23¼in.

Private collection

Estimated at 15,000 - 20,000 GBP in December 2022

Richard of Gloucester, the brother of King Edward IV, is determined to gain the crown of England for himself, no matter what. His plot begins as he romantically pursues Lady Anne Neville, daughter of the Earl of Warwick and a widow. He woos her as she accompanies the funeral procession of her father-in-law, King Henry VI (whom Richard murdered). He confesses the murder, and she spits at him. He offers himself to her sword, but she drops it. He offers to kill himself at her order, but she accepts his ring and becomes Duchess of Gloucester. Richard exults at having won her over so and tells the audience that he will discard her once she has served his purpose. More on this painting

Hans Makart (28 May 1840 – 3 October 1884) was a 19th-century Austrian academic history painter, designer, and decorator. Makart was a prolific painter whose ideas significantly influenced the development of visual art in Austria-Hungary, Germany, and beyond.

Both celebrated and condemned for his sensual, historical and legacy paintings, Hans Makart produced richly colored and atmospheric works that had an extraordinary impact on late-nineteenth century Viennese culture. Markart was so popular, in fact, that he gave his name to the so-called Makartstil - or Makart-Style - a virtual school of art and design that helped decorate many of the public places in Vienna in the second half of the nineteenth century. Makart's art was condemned however by academics who took exception to the artist's general lack of regard for factual accuracy and for denigrating important historical events by featuring gratuitous female nudity. In the public sphere, meanwhile, he was known as much for the outrageous society parties as for his art. His sumptuously decorated Venetian studio was where royalty, politicians, artists and writers came to mingle and to "be seen". Such was his celebrity in fact that he has be referred to by several commentators as the Andy Warhol of his day. More on Hans Makart

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