Lot 806: Charles Waltensperger O/C Fairytale Painting, Summer Days Dream

Charles E. Waltensperger (American/Detroit, 1871-1931) oil on canvas fantasy or fairytale painting with a sleeping woman who leans against a tree. Her left hand rests on a basket that sits on the ground beside her and her right hand grasps a small bunch of flowers. A group of fantastical creatures including gnomes, trolls, and a fairy who rides a large butterfly enters from left. Signed lower left. Housed in a painted and giltwood frame. Sight: 15 1/4 in H x 22 1/2 in W. Frame: 19 3/4 in H x 27 in W. Biographical Note: Born in Detroit, as a young man Charles E. Waltensperger worked as an elevator operator at the Detroit Free Press, where he made sketches of passengers before he enrolled in classes at the school of the Detroit Institue of Arts. He exhibited at the DIA and won the James E. Scripps scholarship, which allowed him to study art in Europe at both the Academie des Beaux-Arts, under Jean-Leon Gerome, and at the Academie Julien in Paris. Upon his return to Detroit he worked as a commercial artist and illustrator and also illustrated children’s books written by Charles Bertrand Lewis, AKA M. Quad. He later opened his own studio and was a member of Detroit’s Hopkin Club artist group, later Scarab Club. (Adapted from the Smithsonian Institution Archives of American Art artist’s biography)

PROVENANCE: The collection of Charles R. Ragan, KY. 

CONDITION: Vertical scratch along right edge, 7 inch L, plus 1/4 inch x 1/8 inch abrasion to upper left corner. Minor skinning, especially to center below fairy and to right of standing figures, and to left leg of figure with raised arms. Frame with abrasions and losses especially to lower left, 2 1/2 in L, and upper left, 1/2 in L.