DISCOVERY

Artist: Johann Evangelist Scheffer von Leonhardshoff (Austria, 1795-1822)

Title: Agnes Dei

Date: circa 1818-20

Medium: Pen and gray ink on beige paper

Dimensions: 12.25 x 16.25 inches (320 x 415 mm)

Not signed

Attribution and Authentication

Dr. Colin J. Bailey, Edinburg, Scotland

Provenance

Private Collection, Germany (as unidentified artist), until 1999

Christie’s Amsterdam, Sale of “Art and Antiques from German Noble Houses”, March 24, 1999, lot 522 (unidentified)

Fred R. Kline Gallery, Santa Fe (Fred R. Kline discovery and first attributed to Friedrich Overbeck)

Eugene V. Thaw

Thaw Collection, Pierpont Morgan Library, NY

Exhibition

Fred R. Kline Gallery. "A Rare Nazarene Drawing by von Leonhardshoff". August, 1999.

Publication

"Johann Evangelist Scheffer von Leonhardshoff , Agnes Dei" : at www.klinegallery.com from January 2000

Note: Von Leonhardshoff, who died at 27, was one of the finest draftsmen among the early Nazarenes.  His extremely rare drawings reside in few museums in Europe and had not been represented in a public collection in the United States.  The Morgan example is considered among the finest drawings by von Leonhardshoff in a museum collection.

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Thaw Collection

Pierpont Morgan Library, NY