The German Emin Pascha Expedition at the foot of Mount Kenya
Johannes Louis Wensel (Mölln 1825 - Berlin 1899)
Lot-No. 388
Oil/canvas, 41,5 x 67 cm, lo. le. sign. J. L. Wensel pinxt, min. rest. - The German doctor and explorer Eduard Schnitzer (1840-1892) had administered territories in East Africa under his name Emin Pasha for many years on behalf of the Egyptian government. After the Mahdi uprising cut him off from communication with Europe, two rescue expeditions were sent from there in 1889, led by Morton Stanley in England and Carl Peters in Germany. Both Stanley and Peters found Emin Pasha safe and sound in his domain. The painting shows Carl Peters' camp on the Leikipia Plateau at the foot of Mount Kenya. Peters himself is standing in the foreground on the riverbank. Handwritten notes by the artist are available on the motif and its details. - Literature: The painting is published in: R. Wrede: Das geistige Berlin, I, 1897, p. 568. It is also mentioned in the Weilbach dictionary of Danish artists. - Provenance: In the artist's possession until his death; most recently private collection Schleswig-Holstein. - German landscape and figure painter. Wensel studied at the Copenhagen Academy in 1851-54 and worked as a flower painter at the Royal Porcelain Manufactory there. He subsequently lived in London, Italy and Switzerland. In 1871 he settled in Hamburg, then in 1878 finally in Berlin, where he was successful as a portrait painter. Mus.: Berlin, Ratzeburg. Lit.: Thieme-Becker, Weilbach.
Johannes Louis Wensel: The German Emin Pascha Expedition at the foot of Mount Kenya
Johannes Louis Wensel (Mölln 1825 - Berlin 1899)
The German Emin Pascha Expedition at the foot of Mount Kenya
Lot-No. 388
Oil/canvas, 41,5 x 67 cm, lo. le. sign. J. L. Wensel pinxt, min. rest. - The German doctor and explorer Eduard Schnitzer (1840-1892) had administered territories in East Africa under his name Emin Pasha for many years on behalf of the Egyptian government. After the Mahdi uprising cut him off from communication with Europe, two rescue expeditions were sent from there in 1889, led by Morton Stanley in England and Carl Peters in Germany. Both Stanley and Peters found Emin Pasha safe and sound in his domain. The painting shows Carl Peters' camp on the Leikipia Plateau at the foot of Mount Kenya. Peters himself is standing in the foreground on the riverbank. Handwritten notes by the artist are available on the motif and its details. - Literature: The painting is published in: R. Wrede: Das geistige Berlin, I, 1897, p. 568. It is also mentioned in the Weilbach dictionary of Danish artists. - Provenance: In the artist's possession until his death; most recently private collection Schleswig-Holstein. - German landscape and figure painter. Wensel studied at the Copenhagen Academy in 1851-54 and worked as a flower painter at the Royal Porcelain Manufactory there. He subsequently lived in London, Italy and Switzerland. In 1871 he settled in Hamburg, then in 1878 finally in Berlin, where he was successful as a portrait painter. Mus.: Berlin, Ratzeburg. Lit.: Thieme-Becker, Weilbach.
