View of the scaffolded Building Academy [Schinkelplatz with the Building Academy during construction].
The painting shows a view of the Bauakademie on Kupfergraben in Berlin. In the foreground is the canal with barges, on its bank the scaffolded Bauakademie. In the right part of the picture, further buildings with staffage can be seen, above them the blue sky. The academy building was erected between 1832 and 1836 according to a design by Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841). The titles "Ansicht der eingerüsteten Bauakademie" ("View of the scaffolded Bauakademie"), "Berliner Vedute (Bauakademie)" ("Berlin Veduta ( Building Academy)") and "Der Schinkelplatz mit der Bauakademie während des Baues" ("Schinkel Square with the Building Academy during construction") have survived.
The work is neither signed nor dated. It is assumed to have been created around 1835.
The following indications can be taken from the reverse: in blue bold crayon "9894" (Mü-Nr.), "149" (lot number auction 1943), in a circle "16" (unidentified), "K" (unidentified); white label outlined in blue with perforated border "3397" (Linz-Nr. ); handwritten "Fischer, angeblich Bauführer von Schinkel" (not identified); label, handwritten "57" (number from the instruction of the Vermögensverwertungsstelle of the OFP, 1943); in yellow bold crayon "13" (not identified), "3397" (Linz no. ); handwritten "472" (not identified); label "Galerie Maria Dietrich / 'Almas' / [...]" (Galerie Almas, Munich); stamp "Eigentum der Bundesrepublik Deutschland" (Provenienzmerkmal, after 1949); label "Berlin Museum / Johann (?) Fischer / Leihgabe d. Bundesrepublik / Inv. No. GEM66/38" (borrower, after 1945).
(...) unexplained
Until 16./17.04.1943 Martin Tietz (1895-1965), Berlin, acquisition path unexplained
16/17.04.1943-20.04.1944 Almas Gallery, Munich, purchase at auction from Hans W. Lange, Berlin
From 20.04.1944 German Reich ("Sonderauftrag Linz"), purchase
As of 18.10.1945 American Military Government, Central Collecting Point Munich, seizure
Since 1949 Federal Republic of Germany, transfer pursuant to Art. 134 GG (Basic Law)
Kunstverwaltung des Bundes
Herbert-Bayer-Straße 5
13086 Berlin
Germany