Oil On Canvas: Windmill By Rudolph Richly (1886-1975), Austria, 20th Century

Oil on canvas: Windmill in a Countryside Landscape, by Rudolph Richly (1886-1975), Austrian painter. Signed in the lower right corner "Richly," and inscribed on the back with the same name. In a beautiful carved wooden frame.

Condition of the work:

In excellent condition. Canvas well stretched on its frame. No defects to report.

Dimensions of the canvas: 81 x 62 cm

Biography:

The painter Rudolph Richly was born in 1886 in Ödenburg. Except for a year of study at the Budapest Academy, he was self-taught. In 1921, he settled in Vienna. In 1928, he became a member of Wiener Brücke; in 1947, he was president of the Gemeinschaft bildender Künstler (Association of Artists); in 1948, he was a founding member of the newly formed Hagenbund; in 1952, a member of the Vienna Secession; and in 1969, a member of the Künstlergruppe Burgenland (Burgenland Artists' Group). His painting was strongly influenced by French artists such as Henri Matisse, Pierre Bonnard, and Marc Chagall. His works have been featured in numerous international exhibitions, and in 1972, the Burgenländische Landesgalerie Eisenstadt (Burgenland State Gallery in Eisenstadt) held a solo exhibition of his work. He died in Vienna in 1975.

Analysis of the work:

According to an article on the official website of the French Federation of Windmills:

"In every country, geography dictates the location of windmills." Even in Austria, a country largely covered in mountains where numerous watermills are found, the few windmills were located in the north. Of these, two have survived. In Retz, a small historic town 80 km north of Vienna, one of these windmills with a truncated conical tower still stands. This is the flour mill shown here. It was built in 1853, in the heart of the countryside amidst a wine-growing region, to replace a post mill dating from 1772. […] The windmill operated until 1924, after which it was protected as a historical monument.

https://fdmf.fr/autriche-le-moulin-de-retz/

It therefore seems likely that the mill depicted here is the Retz windmill. The artist, who had lived in Vienna since 1921, could easily have traveled the 80 km between the two cities to paint outdoors.

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