Allegory of Celestial and Earthly Love, 16th century, oil on copper.The painting is 9.2" x 8.2", in a frame 14" x 12.6".////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////Easily one of the most unusual and exciting works ever to be offered by David Killen Gallery, Allegory of Celestial and Earthy Love, an oil on copper from the 16th century, is both comforting and frightening at the same time.The work, measuring 8"x 9", is a tour de force of Renaissance art, both capturing the moment the Northern European artists of Germany were breaking away from the overly religious iconography of the Holy Roman Empire, and signaling the struggle of artists of the time to find ways to depict partially secular themes that could still be appealing to the upper middle classes.We forget that during the 16th century an artist rarely worked without a patron paying for his brushes and copper plate, and the patron dictated what the artist would paint.Artists like Durer, who could often afford to paint what he wanted to because of the sale of his prints, were rare.Most artists were stuck doing portraits and interiors for wealthy ship owners, and most of the privileged classes were anxious to show their love of God by having themselves kneeling before the Virgin Mary, or risk going straight to hell after they passed on, in triptychs and small devotional works. In Allegory, the references to the afterlife are not completely obliderated, but the way the drama unfolds and is played out, is highly unusual, even shocking for the time. The work shows a two winged Cherubs, representing Earthly and Celestial Love, riding symbols of both, the Swan(symbolizing Venus and Earthly Love) and the eagle(symbolizing Jupiter, Celestial Love and it's nobility).Death, symbolized by a Charon like figure 100 times more frightening than Michaelangelo's depiction of Charon in the Last Judgment on the Sistine Chapel ceiling; basically a hairy blackened skeleton with a scythe and an expression on his face that would scare Satan,rides the row boat, ready to carry souls of the newly deceased to the afterlife. There are many startling aspects of the image, the first being that the artist depicts Death as the central figure of the drama.It was almost unheard of before the 19th century to cast a symbolic figure like Death as the main player in a work of art, especially with the absence of any other earthy figures, or any symbols of Christ or the Holy Trinity.Here, Death is basically alone, paddling with his scythe,to the curious eyes of the cupids.Notice the rowboat is empty.Although that is not shocking in itself, the absence of any living person in the painting is.Generally, the Allegorical lesson is emphasized by the inclusion of the patron or peasant, torn between the two worlds of Earthly love and Celestial Love, and struggling to make a decision as death drags him/her to his ultimate destiny.What ends up happening is a vision of the supporting cast of the Allegory, confronting each other in a bizarre display of their separate powers, as if waiting for the viewer to realize that they have emerged as the main actors in the drama. Although intended to depict an Allegory, it instead elevates what is normally a cast of minor characters in the typical works of the era, to lead roles, showing how far the changes have come in the movement away from the Church, to a direct concern among the masses of the Northern Renaissance for confronting issues of Love and Death without looking for idol worship as a means of escaping responsibility for ones own actions.Its upsetting in its directness, as it removes what is normally so reassuring in other paintings of the time, an easy answer to lifes difficult choices, by simply choosing a devotional life.Here, the artist is clear, we are on our own, but for the sake of argument, we do have choices.The previous is the express opinion of David Killen,owner of David Killen Gallery, and appraiser of the Frederick Mont Estate, and the Estate of Krzysztof Postawa.////////////////////////////////////////////////////Provenance:Estate of Krzysztof Postawa, but more importantly, Krzysztof Postawa descended from Frederick Mont, a famous Old Master dealer in NYC.Notice on the back of the work is an exhibition label, mentioning that the work was in the Collection of Frederick Mont.Here is the connection:Frederick Mont was born in Vienna, Austria on 3/26/1894. He died on 8/20/1994 in N.Y.C.He was survived by his wife Anna Mont nee Suchestow. He had no children.Anna Mont died on 7/28/2010 in N.Y.C. She was survived by her sister Lottie Brandel.Lottie Brandel died on 7/20/11 in Jackson Heights, NY and was survived by her husband, Krzysztof Postawa.Krzysztof Postawa died on 7/11/2018 in Jackson Heights, NY.//////////////If you don't know who Frederick Mont was, the following is from the Archives of the Frick Museum online:"Frederick Mont, aka A. F. (Adolf Fritz) Mondschein or Frederick Mondschein, was a New York dealer of Old Master paintings. Before immigrating to New York in the 1930s, Mont, owned and directed Galerie Sanct Lucas (Yeide, Nancy H. The AAM Guide to Provenance Research, AAM, Washington DC., 2001).Frederick Mont sold mostly European old masters mostly to U.S. museums; he was chosen as sole agent by the Prince of Liechtenstein for the sale of masterpieces from his collection; favored his relationships with American dealer Victor Spark (1898-1991) and the Newhouse Galleries.Mont was married at least three times; his first wife, Betty (née Berta Austerlitz, 1897) Mont, was also involved in the art business and Frederick was a partner in her father’s, Wilhelm Austerlitz [d. 1940], London art business; his second wife, Eva (née Seiler, 1919–1953), died on vacation with her husband in Naples, Italy; his third wife, Anna S. (1914-2010), bequest some works of art to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2010 in memory of Frederick Mont, other works from her bequest entered the collection in 2012.".//////////////////////////////////////////////////////David Killen Gallery contacted Dr.Gode Kramer, the world's leading authority on Konig in Germany,several weeks ago,and Dr.Kramer said he felt it was not a work by Konig, because Konig was a "simple" man, and the Allegory of Love, is complex, "too complex" a work for Konig to have painted.He also noted that the Konig would not have put the palm trees so close to the front of the work, but would have been in the far backround.We would like to thank Dr.Kramer for his expert opinion.

Good condition overall, scattered retouched areas over 3% to 5% of the surface.Oil on copper laid down to wood panel.