1866 Otto Georgi Oil Painting
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APPRAISER:
The scale and drama of this painting is really quite overwhelming.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
The scene we have is Moses coming down from Mount Sinai with the tablets. The Israelites are before him, and the Golden Calf is here. It's a wonderful 19th-century painting by the artist Otto Georgi. Signed and dated 1866, lower right. What you see here is obviously a German artist, academically trained, but also one who was caught up in the whole interest of Orientalism and of travel to exotic places, which was something that was going on a lot in the late 19th century. What can you tell me about it?
GUEST:
My father had cancer and we were coming from Florida back to North Carolina. And I always stopped at the yard sales. And I stopped this particular day, and I say, "Papa, let me just stop in." And I saw this picture, and I picked it out.
APPRAISER:
What did you pay for it?
GUEST:
I paid a couple of hundred dollars for it, but you know, with my father, I couldn't say, you know, because he was, like, "Why did you spend that much money?"
APPRAISER:
So $200, $400, what do you think?
GUEST:
I think it was, like, $200, $300 for it. A couple of people was looking at it, and when I saw it, it was, like, a biblical scene, and my father was a deacon in the church. It just caught my eye and my attention.
APPRAISER:
How long ago did you buy it?
GUEST:
I bought it last year.
APPRAISER:
Last year?
GUEST:
??? of last year.
APPRAISER:
In the late 19th century, both in America and Europe, there was a real revival in interest in the Holy Land. The other aspect that I love is an iconography that we don't see all that often, which is this extraordinary panoramic view, with this very important event taking place in the bottom corner of the painting.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
And the idea behind that was the panorama, which was the redemption, and the redemption of God's people. This is sort of the encapsulated version of Moses and the Ten Commandments. There were actually many visits. And the Israelites and the idolatry of the Golden Calf, they're not technically the same story. But what we have here is a compressed version of the high drama of God speaking to Moses and him bringing down the tablets. It's oil on canvas. It has been lined.
GUEST:
Oh, okay.
APPRAISER:
So someone took very good care of it at one point. The artist isn't particularly well-known, but the scale, the drama, the detail...
GUEST:
The detail, yes.
APPRAISER:
The detail is amazing. You could spend your life looking at this painting.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
At auction, I would estimate it at between $20,000 and $30,000.
GUEST:
Wow. Oh, my goodness.
APPRAISER:
Yes.
GUEST:
Oh, Papa! (chuckles)
APPRAISER:
He'd be proud.
GUEST:
Wow, yes.
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