"Calf and Two Goats Grazing in the Meadow" 
Julius Paul Junghanns (German, 1876-1958)
Oil on canvas
Signed lower right
15 1/2 x 11 1/2 (20 x 16 frame) inches
 
Professor Julius Paul Junghanns (German, 1876-1958) attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden and continued his education as an Animalier painter in Munich under the instruction of Dr. Heinrich Johann von Zügel. 
 
Junghanns had an important career in academia when in 1904, at the age of 28, he became the Director of Animalier and Plein Air Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Düsseldorf at the suggestion of von Zügel. He remained there for over 40 years and distinguished himself with worldwide acclaim and his paintings were exhibited internationally in galleries from Berlin and Munich to Vienna, London, Madrid, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Boston, and countless other prestigious institutions. This level of internationality is fundamental when understanding the level of Junghanns exceptional artistry during a period as restrictive as the Reich.
 
The style he develops is very close to the Barbizon School though his later works are within the Post-Impressionist canon. Junghanns much preferred painting in plein air and in his compositions, he describes the close relationship between humans and animals; a bond characterized by very intense emotions and sensations that influenced his real and artistic life. Cattle and livestock were considered a very important resource and a sure parameter for evaluating the wealth of rural society. Families raised animals with care and dedication because it was the main source of livelihood as it had been throughout their history and countless generations.
 
Professor Junghanns devoted himself to subjects of the Animalier genre, linked to everyday life while maintaining a dense and very accentuated symbolic meaning. In Junghanns paintings, the nature world played an undisputed role of protagonist.
 
His works of art can be found in public and private collections internationally: Berlin, Hague, Munich, Düsseldorf, Bonn, Krefeld, Chemnitz, Karlsruhe, Mannheim, Vienna, London, Madrid, Antwerp, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Boston, Gdansk, Königsberg, as well as many private collections around the world own