Fidus (Luebeck 1868-1948 Woltersdorf bei Berlin), also known as Hugo Hoeppener
St. George and the Dragon
1909-1910
oil on board
100 x 72 cm (39 ½ x 28 ¾ in.)
signed lower left: "'Fidus.-"
verso lower left inscribed, dated, and signed by the artist:
"Dem müden Kämpen Hermann Kronberg
ersonnen im Winter 1909-10 -- von -- Fidus.-"
["To the weary warrior Hermann Kronberg
conceived in the winter of 1909-10 -- by-- Fidus.-"]
with artist-made frame (see image below)
The Daulton Collection
Provenance:
Hermann Kronberg (possibly 1848-1941), a leading Lebensreform figure and author who promoted natural healing methods (naturopathic/herbal alternative medicine), good nutrition, and exercise. From 1887, in Neustadt, he operated a well-known sanatorium/spa, the first of its kind, based on his reform health beliefs and offering vegetarian cuisine, nicotine- and alcohol-free rooms, etc. With the assistance of his wife Adelheid, he wrote the health-oriented cookbook, Reformküche auf gesundheitsgemässer Grundlage [Reform Cooking on a Healthy Basis] (1908, 3rd enlarged ed.), a pioneering work about vegetarian cuisine.
offered at Christie's, London, auction of Modern Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture, October 21, 1988, Lot 417.
Ex coll. Barry Humphries (1934-2023), the noted Australian comedian who created the character "Dame Edna." Humphries acquired the painting sometime after the Christie's auction.
