An enigmatic half-length portrait of a young lady by German painter, Gabriel Von Hackl (1843-1926).

How do you read her expression? Is she lost in her own thoughts as she waits patiently for the sitting to end? Or is she looking sceptically at the painter wondering how she will look?

The portrait is potentially a head study as the body and background have been sketched in quickly with broad marks. Note how the face is considerably more detailed than the rest.

Gabriel Von Hackl was capable of highly detailed portraits and scenes but also painted in a more impressionistic style in the later part of his career. He was particularly accomplished at anatomy due to his studies at the University of Vienna.

In 1865, he moved to Munich and attended the Akademie der Bildenden Künste whjere he studied under Alexander Wagner and Carl Theodor von Piloty. Between 1878 and 1919, he worked as a teacher at the Münchner Kunstakademie and several of his students went on to become successful. He was known as a particularly tough taskmaster - particularly with anatomical studies.

The painting is signed in the lower left and housed within an ornate period frame.

Medium: Oil on canvas
Overall size: 25” x 29” / 63cm x 73cm
Year of creation: c. 1900
Provenance: Germany
Condition: Very presentable. Frame with some age-related wear and losses.
Artist’s auction highlight: £6,724 achieved for ‘Das Wunderkind’ at an auction in 2007.