Lot 380 , Josef William Allen (1803-52), The Castle at Reinhardsbrunn, oil on copper panel, 64 x 78cm

Josef William Allen (1803-52) The Castle at Reinhardsbrunn
oil on copper panel
The group of figures before the entrance probably include Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and attendants with horses. Reinhardsbrunn, a former religious house about eighty miles west of Gotha, had been completely remodelled by Ernest I - 'his last and favourite work' - as a hunting-box in the medieval style. He had employed Gustav Eberhard as his architect and the work had been completed in 1833. Prince Albert was often there in the summer months of his boyhood.
A slightly larger version, painted on canvas for Prince Albert, is in the Royal Collection, RCIN 406304
64 x 78cm
£400-600

Condition:
Oil on an thick copper panel in honest untouched condition, very slight outward bulging of the panel, paint rather dirty with a fine broadening craquelure throughout which has been retouched in places most notably the sky, rather dark with some bitumous bubbling lower down, no sign of any signature, housed in a later gilt frame which is in good order, no labels verso, possibly auctioneers chalk marks on the back.

Sold for £650