August Kestner, sitting on an armchair. - There are few things of significance at the art exhibition. My life-size portrait of Rahl, an Austrian, is [...] one of the best paintings. Closer friends, however, dispute the conception of my character. [...] Rahl paints with more impasto, his colour is more historical, but his conception less tasteful." (Kestner in a letter to his nephew Hermann Kestner, 26.03.1942).
With this portrait, Kestner refers to an important part of his collection, the Aegyptiaca. The two vessels in the background, dating from the New Kingdom (c. 1300 BC), can be identified in the museum's Egyptian collection. (AVS)
Former August Kestner Collection, Rome