Oil on panel, parquetted
Austria, 1883
Carl Moll (1861-1945) - Major Austrian painter
Signed and dated lower right ‘C. Moll 1883’ as well as inscribed location ‘Goisern’
Simple golden frame
Provenance: Private Collection Saxony
Dimensions: 52 x 35 cm
Appealing still life with details such as fuchsia in a pot, forget-me-nots, different vessels and a frog catching a fly; the auction record for a painting by Carl Moll is set by €297.000 at an auction in June 2013 by Auctionata

This charming still life comes from the hand of the important Austrian painter Carl Moll and was created in 1883. It is one of the earliest works of the artist and presents a lovingly arranged flower still life with a fuchsia in a pot, forget-me-nots in a bright colored ceramic vessel and a pitcher in which a person's head seems to be reflected. A little tree frog is climbing up the table trying to catch a fly.



Carl Moll created this painting during his time in Bad Goisern near Lake Hallstatt, where he lived for a while with his teacher and role model Emil Jakob Schindler, whose assistant he also was. After Schindler's death Moll married his widow Anna Berger and adopted the two daughters, Margaret and Alma. His stepdaughter Alma Schindler was later married, among others, with the architect Walter Gropius and a little later was life companion of the painter Oskar Kokoschka.



The painting is signed and dated ‘C. Moll 1883’ as well as inscribed with the location ‘Goisern’. The wooden panel shows a vertical crack as well as other fine cracks due to tension and is therefore parquetted. The surface bears some retouched scratches and rubbings at the edges due to framing. Newer varnish. Overall, in age-appropriate condition. The panel measures 52 x 35 cm. The framed dimensions are 67.5 x 48 cm. The frame shows slight signs of use.



Carl Moll (1861-1945)

Carl Moll was born in 1861 in Vienna and initially studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in his hometown under Christian Griepenkerl Griepenkerl (1839-1912). Later he was a student and assistant of the landscape painter Emil Jakob Schindler (1842-1892) whose painting „Altwasser der Traun bei Goisern“ fascinated the young Moll so much that he wanted Schindler and only Schindler to be his future tutor.

Over several years, Moll lived in close contact with Schindler and his family – he even moved in for some time – and Moll married Schindler’s widow after Schindler’s death. The couple regularly entertained a large circle of intellectuals, amongst them Gustav Klimt, Josef Hoffmann and Joseph Maria Olbrich. Moll presented his painting „Römische Ruine von Schönbrunn“ in 1890 in the Wiener Künstlerhaus where it was bought immediately by the Emperor Franz Joseph. In 1897 he co-founded the Vienna Secession, which he left together with Gustav Klimt in 1905. Eventually he ran the Galerie Miethke in Vienna, which developed into an important centre of the early Modernism under his guidance. Moll was an important figure in the art scene in Austria and Germany; he travelled a lot, negotiated and organized exhibitions and also promoted young artists such as Oskar Kokoschka and Egon Schiele. He was in close contact to many of the important big names of the art world of the time, such as Alfred Lichtwark, Emil Orlik, Julius Meier-Graefe, Max Liebermann and others. His step-daughter, Alma Schindler, married the famous composer Gustav Mahler and was later known for being Oskar Kokoschka’s lover as well as Walter Gropius’ wife; after Gropius’ death, Alma married the author Franz Werfel, together with whom she also moved to the Hohe Warte where they lived in the Villa Ast and kept an open house for the Austrian intellectual scene just like her parents had done before her.

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