Georg Burmester — Regatta (working title)

Name: Georg Burmester — Regatta (working title)
Brand: Georg Burmester (1864–1936)
SKU: A10

Oil painting / maritime scene

In Collection

Georg Burmester — Regatta (working title) — Listing photo

Georg Burmester — Regatta (working title)

Oil painting / maritime scene

In Collection

Signed early-20th-century oil on canvas by Georg Burmester depicting a luminous sailing regatta; the reverse bears the graphite inscriptions “291/5” and “Regatta”, now under catalogue research.

Description

A luminous maritime painting by German artist Georg Burmester (1864–1936), centred on a group of sailing vessels beneath a broad atmospheric sky. The scene is built from dense, visible brushwork in muted blues, greens, ochres and soft rose tones, with the warm sails and their reflection forming the visual centre of the composition.

The work is signed “G. Burmester” at lower left. On the reverse of the original canvas, an old graphite inscription reads “291/5”; beneath it the word “Regatta” is legible, followed by another inscription now too faded to read with confidence. Burmester maintained numbered registers of his own works, later transcribed into the published Georg Burmester Werkverzeichnis. Research is currently underway to determine whether “291/5” relates directly to that system and whether the reverse inscription preserves the original title or location.

The painting remains in the family collection and is not currently offered for sale. Its catalogue identity, precise date and the significance of the reverse markings are being documented as part of the Last Line Heritage archive.

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The Story Behind

This Georg Burmester painting has been in the family for generations, passed down through my grandmother’s sister, who lived in Prague and belonged to a household where paintings, decorative objects and other works of art were collected as part of everyday life.

For decades the family knew the artist’s name and one persistent story: many years ago, the painting was examined in Split, Croatia, by the distinguished Croatian art historian Kruno Prijatelj. According to family recollection, he consulted a book or catalogue and pointed to a printed reproduction of this very motif, remembered ever since as being connected with a postage stamp. No paperwork from that encounter survives, and whether the source was truly a stamp, an art postcard or another printed postal publication remains unresolved.

The most intriguing evidence is on the object itself. On the reverse of the original canvas, almost lost against the aged linen, graphite handwriting records “291/5”. Beneath it is a word that can now be read with confidence: “Regatta”. A further line has faded so heavily that only fragments remain.

That number matters because Burmester kept his own numbered registers of works. Those handwritten records were later transcribed and published in the Georg Burmester Werkverzeichnis by Ingo Kroll and Sabine Behrens. The second register begins with work number 283 and covers the years from December 1903 to February/March 1909. Whether the “291/5” on this canvas is Burmester’s own catalogue notation is now being checked directly against the Werkverzeichnis.

There is another compelling parallel. A Burmester sketchbook from 1905–1906 preserved in Schleswig-Holstein contains a drawing catalogued as “Regatta vor Travemünde”, showing sailing vessels and boats at a regatta. It does not yet prove a direct connection to this painting, but it places the subject firmly within Burmester’s documented maritime work of the period.

For now, the title “Regatta” remains a working title and the exact date remains open.

Brand: Georg Burmester (1864–1936)
Era: Early 20th century; exact date under research
Origin: Germany
Materials: Oil on canvas; gilt frame
Dimensions: Canvas approx. 75 × 60 cm
Condition: Antique condition — research pending — The painting retains pronounced age and surface character, including craquelure, visible warm ground between areas of brushwork and a vertical surface mark toward the right side that appears consistent with long-term stretcher-bar contact. No conservation treatment has been undertaken for this listing; professional examination is recommended before any intervention.