The Young Hunter Greets Aline (Der junge Jäger begrüsst Aline) from The Queen of Golconda (Die Königin von Golkonde)

Lovis Corinth opens this portfolio, based on an eighteenth-century love story, with a bright, sunlit landscape in which a caddish young wanderer, lolling in a field, catches sight of an innocent milkmaid, Aline. Corinth shows the stages of Aline's seduction, an indiscretion which leads to expulsion from her homeland. She ends up in Golconda, a magnificent place far beyond the borders of European civilization, where she becomes queen. Her young seducer visits the city, and they rekindle their youthful liaison. Golconda is an old name for Hyderabad, India. Corinth's Golconda, however, is largely an imaginary place, located in an exotic Orient filled with lavishly costumed characters. His warm, rich palette and harried draftsmanship are perfectly suited to this tale of erotic delight. Aline kommt zu Fall (Aline falls) captures the rush of passion Aline experiences as she gives herself to the wanderer. In Aline und der Pfarrer (Aline and the minister), a blur of color surrounds Aline's voluptuous nude body as she reunites with her lover.

The story was originally written by French author Stanislas-Jean de Boufflers as Aline, reine de Golconde, and became an instant hit upon its publication in 1761. Corinth followed the German verse translation by Gottfried August Bürger.

Credit: Gift of J. B. Neumann