An early 20th-century oil on canvas depicting a seated gentleman reading a newspaper while two ladies look on from a distance. We can only wonder what the story is here - perhaps they’re wondering who he is.

The artist, Hugo Mieth (1865-1930), trained at the Academy in Dresden under Wilhelm Ferdinand Pauwels (1830-1904) and later at the illustrious Académie Julian in Paris. Like many academy-trained painters from this period, Mieth had the best of both worlds - a classical education based on the old masters, blended with the new ideas of the emerging avant-garde.

Imagine how exciting it was for him when he moved to Paris at a time when the impressionists were in full swing.

This painting is a nod to both schools - it’s traditional in terms of its subject yet impressionistic in style.

Here’s another work by Mieth, ‘Le Cabanon’, which sold at Christie's in 2000:

https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-hugo-mieth-german-b1865-le-cabanon-1821538

Medium: Oil on canvas
Overall size: 29” x 36” / 73cm x 92cm
Year of creation: c. 1910
Provenance: Germany
Condition: Very presentable. Frame with some general wear.
Artist’s auction highlight: £2,606 achieved for ‘Garden Of A Villa’ at a German auction in 1998.