Max Slevogt (German 1868-1932)

Max Slevogt (German 1868-1932)
Der Panther
Signed, dated and inscribed s/l Plesch/Slevogt 31 (lower left)
Gouache
47.6 x 67.7cm

Provenance:
Given by the artist to Dr János Plesch (1878-1957);
And by family descent

Exhibited:
London, New Burlington Galleries, Exhibition of Twentieth Century German Art, July 1938;
Staffordshire, Keele University, Some German 20th Century Artists from the Collections of Mr. A. O. Plesch and Dr. P. H. Plesch...., February - April 1963, no.4;
Manchester, City of Manchester Art Gallery, Works of Art from the Plesch Collections, May-June 1964, no.12;
London, The Wiener Holocaust Library, London 1938: Defending 'Degenerate' German Art, June - September 2018

The original owner of this work was Dr János Plesch, a Hungarian physician whose most famous patient was his close friend Albert Einstein (1879-1955). Max Slevogt was another of Plesch's patients, and he sent the present work to the doctor, after the latter had put the artist on a meatless diet, as a plea to keep the diet as short as possible.