Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen presents Hans Makart’s Abundantia. The Depiction of Abundance and Fertility a painting on loan from the Ger Eenens Collection, on view until March 31 2013. Measuring 1.5 x 4.5 metres this enormous canvas, measuring 1.5 x 4.5 metres, impresses through its swirling composition of warm colours against a gold background, in which Abundantia, the personification of prosperity, takes central place.
Hans Makart Abundantia. The Gifts of the Earth, circa 1870. Oil on canvas. Loan: Ger Eenens Collection The Netherlands 2011.
The painting portrays ‘Abundantia’ with the ‘gifts of the Earth’. Abundantia was the Roman godess of abundance and fertility. This exhibition presents examples from the 16th century to the present day in paintings, drawings, prints, photographs and sculptures. Key to this selection was the subject matter of Makart’s painting. The exhibition presents works by artists such as Paulus Moreelse and Michelangelo Cerquozzi, and also includes a photo series by the contemporary photographer Sharon Lockhart, as well as sculptures by Paul McCarthy and Boris van Berkum.
Hans Makart painted the composition in 1870 for the dining room of a palatial mansion on Vienna’s Ring. The Viennese were instantly struck by ‘Abundantia’ and Makart painted several repeats of it, parts of them executed by his workshop assistants. The canvas in the Ger Eenens Collection is regarded as autograph. Musée d’Orsay and the Salzburg Museum have other versions.
Hans Makart was regarded as the Andy Warhol of his time, though his fame quickly faded after his death. Visitors paid a fee to visit his studio and it served as a venue for exclusive parties. Makart’s renown extended far beyond Austria’s borders and his paintings made extensive tours to European and American cities. For example, between 1871 and 1880 ‘Abundantia’ was shown in Berlin, Leipzig, New York, Philadelphia, Amsterdam, London and elsewhere. – www.boijmans.nl