$5,670
Estimate: $8,000 - $10,000
American Art and Pennsylvania Impressionists
Auction: December 3, 2023 at 2 PM ET
Signed ‘Koerner’ bottom right, oil on canvas laid down to Masonite
22 x 16 in. (55.9 x 40.6cm)
The Artist.
Acquired directly from the above.
Estate of Dr. Robert Craig, Monongahela, Pennsylvania.
The present work was originally submitted as a cover project for Time magazine, but was never ultimately published. It depicts the Italian soprano Renata Tebaldi in her rose garden. Daubed “one of the greatest performers with one of the most extraordinary voices in the field of opera” by La Scala music director, Tebaldi was one of the dazzling stars of the Metropolitan Opera. She was often compared to Maria Callas, universally seen as her rival due to their difference in training, their opposite singing voices and interpretations of dramatic roles such as Aida, Tosca or La Gioconda.
Henry Koerner enjoyed both cantatrice and in fact painted a portrait of Maria Callas, now at the National Portrait Gallery. The artist was generally fond of classical music and opera–a passion he shared with his Pittsburgh friend Dr. Robert Craig, with whom he often discussed recent concerts and recordings, especially those by Schubert, their favorite composer, and to whom the present work was gifted after Time Magazine decided not to use it.