Masterfully antique  painting depicts Madonna with Child  and was executed by famous German Historian painter and fresco artist Hugo Barthelme (1822 Eusenhausen Unterfranken - 1895 Munich).

Hugo Barthelme was the son of a royal Bavarian customs inspector. He received his first education in Würzburg. On November 19, 1840, he enrolled to study painting at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich.[1] His teachers were the history painter Johann von Schraudolph and Heinrich Hess. Barthelme turned primarily to Christian art and acquired knowledge of fresco techniques. In 1850, he created a Madonna painting that was bought by the Munich Art Association. At the same time, he created the Advent painting "Joseph with Mary seeking shelter," which was purchased by the Prague Art Association, as well as the Easter painting "Christ appears to the weeping Magdalene." Patrons enabled him to travel to England in 1857, where he painted several portraits and created a large fresco for Birmingham Cathedral. After returning to Munich, he was involved in the restoration of the old Landständehaus in Landshut. In 1860, King Maximilian II commissioned him to create murals for the then National Museum. His paintings included "Founding of the University of Erlangen by Margrave Friedrich of Bayreuth" and "Prince-Bishop Franz Ludwig von Erthal gives the keynote speech at the second secular celebration of the University of Würzburg in 1782". For the Munich Residence, Barthelme created the oil painting "Duke Albrecht III punishes the robber barons".

Barthelme then received a large commission in Weissenhorn, Swabia. The parish church of the Assumption of Mary collapsed there in 1859 and had to be demolished. From 1865 onwards it was rebuilt in the neo-Romanesque style according to the design of the Munich architect August von Voit. In the summer months of 1868/69 Barthelme painted the four vaulted shells of the central nave and the vault above the organ choir. For the Würzburg University Church, which had been deconsecrated during secularization and was made available for church services again in 1852, Barthelme painted the then bare walls with religious paintings from 1884 onwards. He was busy with this commission until autumn 1887. He then returned to Munich and created a few more genre paintings. Some of these were bought by King Ludwig II and given away by him to favored personalities.

Since 1860, Barthelme was a member of the Munich Association for Christian Art, with which he remained associated until his death in 1895.

Literature in German: " Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenen Künstler " by Thieme / Becker. Leipzig, 1999; General German Biographical Lexicon by Hyacinth Holland, Leipzig, 1902.

Inscription: signed and dated  1855 lower right.

Technique: oil on canvas, luxuriousy original period gold-plated frame.

Measurements: unframed w 18 1/2" x h 22 5/8" (47 x 57.5 cm); framed w 26 1/8" x h 30 1/2" (66,5 x 77,5 cm).

Condition: in very good condition.