Friedrich A. Kessler (German, 1826-1906) oil painting. Large 19th century German landscape oil on canvas painting depicting a deer in a quiet luminous a "Forest Clearing". Signed lower right, Kessler, dated 1884. Good condition, old reline and scattered inpainting. Painting includes a gallery invoice from the 1980's with the purchase sum of over $11,000 when converted from English pounds. Painting measures 45.5 inches high x 62.5 inches wide. Original gilt carved wooden frame measures 52.5 inches high x 68.5 inches wide.
From Askart: At first the painter was a pupil of his father Christian Friedrich Kessler and from 1844 to 1851 he attended the landscape class of Johann Wilhelm Schirmer at the Dusselldorf Art Academy together with Andreas Achenbach and Arnold Backlin. He quickly had specialized in forest landscapes and views of the high mountains at different times and seasons, yet occasionally he also painted seascapes. Together with Schirmer, who instructed him to study the nature on hikes, Kessler undertook frequent study trips through Hesse. He also traveled to Bavaria, the Middle Mountains, Tyrol and northern Italy as well as Switzerland and Holland.
His works can be found, among others, at the Staatliches Museum in Brunswick, at the Stiftung Moritzburg in Halle (Saale) or at the Von der Heydt-Museum in Wuppertal.