Hans Makart

Sale: Kunstauktion G. Plach, Vienna, 2 December 1872, lot 257

Leopold von Wertheimstein, Vienna, 1872

Collection Cornelia and Maria Gomperz, Vienna

Confiscated from the above by the GESTAPO in 1940

Bernhard Witte, Vienna (acquired from the above)

Ernst Schmidt, Vienna/Berlin

Führermuseum Linz, acquired from the above on 25.4.1944 (without Linz inventory number)

Found by the Allies after the end of WWII, and brought to the Munich Central Collection Point (MCCP inventory number 45074); repatriated to the Republic of Austria (Salzburg depot Kleßheim castle)

Henriette Hainisch (restituted from the above on 27 August 1957)

Sale: Dorotheum, Vienna, 22 May 1973, lot 95

Sale, Dorotheum, Vienna, 1977

Julius Hummel, Vienna (by 1977) 

'Kunstchronik', supplement of Zeitschrift für Bildende Kunst, Munich, VIII, no. 7, 29 November 1872, column 110

Weltkunst, XLIII, no. 9, 1 May 1973, illustrated p. 737

Gerbert Frodl, Hans Makart, Salzburg 1974, pp. 305-306, no. 111, illustrated

Sophie Lillie, Was einmal war. Handbuch der enteigneten Kunstsammlungen Wiens, 2003, pp. 419 and 424

Gerbert Frodl, Hans Makart, Werkverzeichnis der Gemälde, Vienna, 2013, p. 101, no. 139, illustrated

Painted in 1869, the scene is from Act I, Scene II of Shakespeare's Richard III.

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. 

A detailed pencil study for the work is in the Münchener Stadtmuseum, Munich.