Furniture

This small and exquisite 19th-century oil on cardboard titled “Reading to Mother” by Johann Georg Meyer von Bremen depicts a gentle interior scene with a young boy attentively reading to a woman, presumably his mother. They are both seated at a small table, the woman rests in a chair outfitted with a large pillow and a faraway look. The painting is nested in a statement giltwood frame, with the artist’s signature on the lower right corner. The frame is a neoclassical Louis XVI-style gilt frame with bellflower trim on the top edge, guilloche detailing on the back edge, ribbon trims, and a fluted cove. Oil paintings on cardboard gained popularity in the late 19th century, offering a convenient and affordable alternative to canvas for artists and enabling greater artistic experimentation. Many renowned artists explored this medium. Oil on paper was often prepared with a layer of primer or gesso to create a stable surface for the paint and to prevent the oils from soaking directly into the paper. Johann Georg Meyer von Bremen commonly known as Meyer von Bremen (1813-1886), was a German genre painter specializing in Biblical, peasant, and family scenes. He was a pupil of the Dusseldorf Academy where he largely painted religious and historical subjects. In 1840, after traveling in Bavaria and Switzerland, he began to develop pleasant genre scenes focused on incidents from popular life, especially among the Hessian peasantry, and the portrayal of childhood and family for which he became known. He spent the remainder of his career in Berlin, becoming a Professor at the Academy in 1863. He was also a member of the Amsterdam Academy and the Order of Leopold...

Oil on canvas, signed in the lower right. Measures 36" x 41" including the frame. Johann Georg Meyer Von Bremen (German 1813-1886) was a genre painter. He was the son of master baker Johann Georg Meyer. His mother was strictly religious. From 1833 he studied at the Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts , which was led since 1826 by Friedrich Wilhelm von Schadow, the son of the sculptor Johann Gottfried Schadow. In addition to Schadow, Karl Ferdinand Son was his teacher there. Meyer acquired the necessary craftsmanship skills to make a living from the sale of his paintings, but he was initially unable to do so. From 1841 to 1852 he maintained his own studio in Düsseldorf. On his travels to Brussels and Antwerp Meyer experienced the works of Peter Paul Rubens and Anthonis van Dyck. In 1851 he married the singer Julia Beer...