Limited Masterworks 2014 Wall Painting Girl by the River with Cherry Blossoms

The scene painted by Johannes Rudolf Hentschel (1869-1951), who, along with his brother Konrad Hentschel, was one of the leading exponents of art nouveau at Meissen, captures a moment of tranquillity and peace. Whereas Konrad enthusiastically embraced modelling and went on to create his famous "Hentschel Children" figurines, his elder brother turned to painting. He returned to MEISSEN® after studying Art at Munich and Paris and acquired a special liking for tranquil landscape images whose magically sensitive chromatic structuring draws the beholder into their inner depths. Like many art nouveau painters, it may have been a traditional Japanese woodcut that inspired him to produce "Girl by the River with Cherry Blossom". Such works possessed a sense of balance and oneness with nature that proved particularly compelling at a time when industrialisation was at its height. Japanese cherry blossom stands for beauty, emergence and contemplation - Hentschel's art is thus still as engrossing as ever.