One of the most significant works by Hans von Marées is the paintings from 1873 adorning the zoological station and aquarium in Naples. This structure, erected on Lungomare and opened to the public in January 1874, was one of the first institutions of its kind in the world. Anton Dohrn, the initiator of this research facility, as well as the artist himself and his collaborator, Adolf von Hildebrandt, were immortalized on the library walls. In the possession of Hildebrandt, there was the famous self-portrait of Marées in a yellow hat, painted by him in 1874 in San Francesco near Florence. The painting, reminiscent of Renaissance portraits, depicts the artist against the Tuscan landscape. “Self-Portrait in a Yellow Hat” received recognition in the professional art press, such as the magazine “Die Dame,” describing the collection gathered in Breslau. (It was the only work by the German artist whose photograph was published alongside images of leading Impressionists.)
During the auction at Paul Graupe’s salon in Berlin in 1935, the self-portrait achieved a very high price and was acquired by the Society of Friends of the National Gallery in Berlin, and then it was donated to this institution. In 1999, the painting attracted media attention when it was returned by the Berlin National Gallery to the legitimate heir of Max Silberberg, his then elderly daughter-in-law – Gertrud Silberberg. The Foundation of Prussian Cultural Heritage (Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz), managing the museum’s property, acknowledged that the auction of artworks owned by the Breslau collector, which took place in 1935 at Paul Graupe’s salon in Berlin, was forced, and in accordance with the provisions of the Washington Convention, the painting should be returned to the owner’s heirs. Due to this, as the self-portrait of Hans von Marées was recognized as a work of art important for German culture, the painting was repurchased for the Berlin collections, and it can still be admired in the National Gallery on Museum Island in Berlin.
Painting Information:
oil on canvas, dimensions: 94 x 70 cm, Berlin, Nationalgalerie.
Literature: Dorothea Kathmann, Kunstwerke aus jüdischen Sammlungen – Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Provenienzermittlungen am Beispiel der Sammlung Silberberg aus Breslau [w:] Beiträge öffentlicher Einrichtungen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland zum Umgang mit Kulturgütern aus ehemaligen jüdischen Besitz, red. Ulf Häder, Magdeburg 2001, s. 27-37.