The Son Bids Farewell To His Dying Father

Artist: Karl Heinrich Hoff (1838–1890), 19th-century follower
Title: The Son Bids Farewell to His Dying Father
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 75 × 100 cm (framed: 90 × 125 cm)
Style: Romanticism, historicizing genre scene
Signature: Unsigned
Condition: Lined canvas; retouching visible under UV light; craquelure; minor pinpoint paint losses along the rear edg
Special notes: Presented in a very large, heavy Baroque frame; shipping costs will be calculated after purchase

This monumental interior scene, charged with emotion, depicts a deeply moving filial farewell: a son greeting his dying father in an atmosphere of domestic silence, solemnity, and moral gravity. In both subject and mood, the work aligns closely with the 19th-century German sentimental genre tradition associated with Karl Hoff, known for narrative costume scenes and psychologically nuanced figuration.

The composition is carefully orchestrated around a clear emotional triangle: at left, the young woman as silent witness; at center, the collapsing paternal figure supported by clerical presence; at right, the son in military attire, poised between duty, departure, and final homage. The dog in the foreground intensifies the dramatic register with a poignant note of loyalty and vigilance.

The interior is not merely decorative. Chairs, textiles, carpet motifs, and wall elements establish a bourgeois historicizing setting in which private grief and public duty converge. The contrast between the stillness around the deathbed and the implied movement of the son gives the image its narrative tension and theatrical force.

The recorded condition indicates an older canvas that has undergone conservation: lining, craquelure, and retouching detectable under UV. Such interventions are consistent with the long-term stabilization often seen in 19th-century works on canvas.

Painterly handling alternates between finely modeled passages (flesh tones, facial features, light fabrics) and broader, darker zones that function as a dramatic backdrop. Controlled highlights—collars, cuffs, and satin-like drapery—guide the eye toward the emotional core of the scene.

The painting sits firmly within 19th-century Romantic culture, with its focus on family bonds, mortality, faith, and duty. Its visual language—legible storytelling, historicizing costume, and restrained sentiment—belongs to the genre tradition cultivated in German-speaking artistic circles of the period.

Within that framework, the work can be convincingly positioned in the stylistic orbit of compositions associated with Karl Heinrich Hoff and his followers.

Karl Heinrich Hoff (Mannheim, 1838 – Karlsruhe, 1890), also known as Carl Heinrich Hoff the Elder, trained in Karlsruhe under Johann Wilhelm Schirmer and Ludwig des Coudres, and continued his studies in Düsseldorf with Benjamin Vautier. A Paris stay in 1862 and further study travels enriched his artistic vocabulary. He later became a professor at the Karlsruhe Academy and was particularly noted for costume-based genre painting.

Comparable artists: Jozef Israëls, Albert Neuhuys, Jules Bastien-Lepage, Mihály Munkácsy.

The Son Bids Farewell to His Dying Father is a compelling 19th-century Romantic genre painting of strong visual and emotional presence, combining narrative clarity, structured composition, and an imposing display quality through its large format and substantial Baroque frame. A characterful work for collectors drawn to high-quality historical and sentimental narrative painting.