Pastel on paper, signed at lower left, presented in a wood frame under glass.

Sight 24 1/2 x 18 1/4 in.; Frame dimensions 28 3/8 x 22 1/4 in.

From a Private Collection, Washington, D.C.

Johann Martin Wagner was the son of sculptor Johann Peter Wagner, and became a student of his father from a young age. He studied pastels at the Vienna Academie and studied in Paris. During this time, he was awarded for his work, was appointed professor of drawing arts at the University of Würzburg, and received a trip to Italy.

While in Rome, Wagner was employed as a drawing teacher in the house of Wilhelm von Humboldt. He met the Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig in Innsbruck while on a return journey. In the years that followed he became his art agent and advisor. Wagner worked for King Ludwig for almost 40 years. In 1823, the king appointed him secretary general of the Munich art academy, and in 1825, he ennobled Wagner, who from then on was called von Wagner.

From 1831 von Wagner lived in the Villa Malta in Rome until his death. In 1857 Martin von Wagner was made an honorary citizen of Würzburg for his services to art and science. In December of the same year, he donated his entire art collection to the University of Würzburg. Since 1963, the university collection exhibited in the Würzburg Residenz has been named after Wagner – the Martin von Wagner Museum.

Scattered creasing to the paper, otherwise good estate condition; not examined outside the frame.