MÜLLER, Ines (Later Frau Tresch, The Artist’s Niece)
Description:
Half-length standing portrait as a child, in a red dress, a red bow in her hair. Oil on canvas, 29.1/2″ x 23.1/2″ (75 cm x 59.5 cm), signed and dated upper right ‘Muller-Ury 1903’. Apparently unfinished, though signed and dated. The stretcher bears the words ‘Ines Muller 4 Jahre alt’ and ‘No90T’.
Location:
Private Collection, Switzerland.
Provenance:
The sitter; by descent.
Daughter of Alois Müller and his wife Bertha Britschgy. The sitter was born on March 3, 1899 and died on January 7, 1991. She married Peter Tresch on April 9, 1931, and had four children: Marie-José, Peter-Andreas (died 1996), Elizabeth and Ines. According to the present owners, the artist always promised their grandmother that he would come one day to the Hotel they owned at Alpnachstad to “finish” the work, but he never did so.
