19th c. Landscape by Hans Kugler (1840-73) Oil on Canvas

Late 19th century landscape at dusk

Signed by the artist to the lower left

Lots of atmosphere and subtlety to the rapidly produced work.

The canvas in good condition with some craquelure and a heavy old varnish.

Set in modern gilt frame. Frame measures 74 x 54.5 cm. Ready to hang

Hans Kugler, born Friedrich Johannes Kugler, was a German painter of landscapes and portraits. He was the youngest son of the art historian and poet Franz Kugler and his wife Clara, daughter of the criminologist Julius Eduard Hitzig. Kugler studied at the Grand Ducal Saxon Art School in Weimar with Arnold Böcklin. He was chronically ill all his life. After his father's death, he moved to Munich with his family. In 1863 he travelled with his friend Adolf von Wilbrandt to Rome, where he worked until 1864.

In the early 1860s he belonged to a circle of friends with Wilbrandt, his brother-in-law Paul Heyse and the painter Ludwig von Hagn, which also included Franz von Lenbach, Böcklin and art collector Adolf Friedrich von Schack. Kugler succeeded in convincing the collector of the quality of Böcklin's work. 

After the death of her daughter Margarethe in 1862, Clara Kugler moved into the house of her son-in-law Paul Heyse to look after him and the grandchildren. Hans Kugler, who was cared for by his mother, also moved there. At the beginning of December 1873 he made a seemingly successful suicide attempt by mixing and drinking a concoction of morphine and sleeping pills, whereupon his mother Clara committed suicide. Ten days later, Kugler died himself.