Gabriel von Max - St. Ursula
Gabriel von Max (1840-1915), Bohemian (Czech)
St. Ursula, undated
OIL ON CANVAS, 17 1/2 x 14 inches
Gift of Horace Fairbanks
Within the known record of Gabriel von Max's works, religious figures are fewer in number than allegorical scenes, but they appealed similarly to the artist's interest in the relationships between a figure's physical appearance and inner state, as seen here in the figure of the fourth-century virgin martyr St. Ursula. Max was fascinated with mysticism and occultism, and his St. Ursula conveys a sense of his intensive study of the figure as a balance between reality and the spiritual.