12-Aug-2008 - Artwork Update - Wilbert Untzendyck in a prisoners outfit
 This is the second portrait of Wilbert Untzendyck that has been discovered this year. Untzendyck was sentenced to death by the Norwegian cat authorities for abusing his position as head of the Royal Torture Chamber in Chritiania (Oslo). He had an identical twin brother living in Holland, and managed to escape from prison while awaiting his sentence, and set his brother up in order to get him executed in his place. This portrait was probably conducted during the time he was awaiting his trial or post mortem (Or more precisely, what was believed to be post mortem).
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6-Aug-2008 - Artwork Update - Portrait of a young Royal Lady.
 Signed ÒFiig 31Ó or possibly 32.
Oil on board. Contemporary, or
slightly later frame.
Measures 17 by 21 cm without the
frame.
Provenance for this piece is from
the private collection of Sander
Wollman.
Condition: Very good with slight
cracked varnish and minor
restorations to the surface.
A rather charming study of a royal
lady of young age. Probably a
small study for the larger piece,
ÒRoyal LadyÓ.
This piece was given as a gift from
Sander Wollman on his death bed
as a last token of love to his
grandchild Mathilde, whom had this
artwork as her favorite among all
the important pieces in her
grandfathers vast collection.
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15-Jul-2008 - Artwork Update - Portrait of Larvald Laftehus
 By Felix Fiigenschou 1632.
Oil on wooden panel.
Measuring 22 x 31 cm unframed.
Very attractive piece inn good condition complimented with a beautiful contemporary frame.
No visible repairs. Some usual cracking to the varnish.
Larvald, son of Larsarus Ingurdson Laftehus is mentioned in the Fiigenschou diary and is involved in the events that took place around the events of the well known painting "A Bridal Journey on the Hardanger Fjord". (Please look at the painting section in this folder to view).
Formerly in the art collection of the famous Ullandvang Hotel in Hardanger, but was removed during the installation of a huge plastic troll (Made in China) and later sold at an online auction.
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15-Jul-2008 - Artwork Update - Portrait of Andronius Austerman
 Signed "Fiig 1631 or 1632.
Oil on wooden board. Contemporary frame.
The piece measures 19 x 26 cm unframed.
overall good condition. the frame has had some of the ornaments removed and further, at some point and a coat of paint.
Minor restorations to the surfaces.
Provenance:
A grand collection of important artworks were split between the family of Holger and Amenense Hogh Pedersen according to the late couple«s last will. At the closing of this friendly session, after the more valuable pieces were shared among the small crowd, only a few minor paintings remained. Among them, this small study by Felix Fiigenschou, the Norwegian cat and artist.
The right toownership of thispaintig turned into a dispute between Dorthea Hogh Pedersen, daughter of Holger and Amenense, and her niese, Samalia Rennesoy. The latter had in her possession a signed document giving her the right to the painting. Dorthea, on the other hand, argued that she was given the promise by her mother that it was to become her posession in the future. As push came to shove, the two clashed into a serious cat fight infront of the shocked members of the family. Dorthea managed to squize her niece hard enough to terminate her short life and ran off with the painting. And vanished in a second, never to come back.
The painting was later recovered in a litter bin in Glasgow and later sold at auction. Dorthea is still missing.
Dorthea was wearing a yellow sweater and deep blue jeans at the time. If you have any information about her whereabouts, please contact Hemseheia Police Office.
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24-Feb-2008 - Artwork Update - Portrait of two Police Officers
 Oil on canvas measuring 38 by 41 cm. The large gilt frame not included in size and not showing on the photograph. This piece is surely in the style of the early works as is has the crudeness of the works he produced around 1630 to 1631. However, this painting must be the one Felix is referring to in his diary on the 25th of May. The reason for this obvious step backwards in terms of artistic progression mighty be the product of the high pressure he was working under at that time.
As this work has such a significant early style, we have decided to include this work in the "Early Works" section.
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21-Feb-2008 - Artwork Update - Portrait of Rouy Alexander Feline
 Produced in Christiania. Oil on wooden board. Signed and dated 1632. Measures 37 by 48 cm.
Rouy Aleander Feline was a weel known fierce criminal, notorious for fraud, burglary, blackmailing, forgery and countless other atrocities of his time. The peak of his criminal career was in 1631, when he took on the State Bank (Norges Statsbank) armed with a knife.
his brother Monrad Theo, who was a priest, made numerous attempts to make Rouy Alexander change for a different lifestyle. However nothing could be done to bring him out of his criminal nature and ha was sentenced to death by decapitating. This sentence happend to be conduted at the same time as Felix Fiigenschou was working on a portrait of the poor criminal. Felix, worried about the process of complketeing his artwork, tried hard to make the authorities wait with the execution until after the portrait was finished. However, the date was already set and Rouy lost his cat head before Fiigenschou had closed up the work.
Anyway, the creative cat artist Felix had the excellent solution to the problem and sent a letter to the Authorities asked kindly for permission to borrow the head brought to his studio in a tank filled with formalin for a few days. The enquiry was honored with allowance to borrow the head for three week by the head of the forensic department, Franz Zacharias Schalpel.
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21-Feb-2008 - Artwork Update - Early Self Portrait
 This early portrait was painted in Holland around 1631. The piece measureѳ 28 by 38 cm excluding a large gilt frame not showing on the image. The work is unsigned and shows the young and desperate artist during one of his hardest moments in his short life.
Provenance from several major collections. The most notable of these would be the fact that the piece was given to his unrequited love Suzi Whiscas, who moved to Berlin and brought the painting with her. The painting has been found on a exhibition list from a show on degenerated art by the nazis in Munchen 1637. By chance the painting was not destroyed as was planned, but was given to Heinrich Himlers nephew as a toy.
The Painting was purchased soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 by the english collector Geoff Somerset, who came across the piece for a bargain price in a secondhand store.
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21-Feb-2008 - Artwork Update - Portrait of Konstanse
 A very early painting by Felix Fiigenschou. Signed and dated 1630 on the back. In this piece we can clearly see the lack of artistic merit known from the later works. The crude style of this painting is a good measure of just how fast Fiigenschou developed as an artist. We know from the notes in his diary that he fell out with his tutors during his education in Holland upon the question of style and technique. Apparently his master Maarhaar did not take a liking to the thick layers of paint Felix was using on his paintings.
This portrait was one of the first he made after his arrival in Holland. It was made from some sketches he made of his aunt Konstanse. Konstanse was initially married to Aron Graalabb in 1625, but after he disappeared on the 23rd of December 1626, she remarried soon after with Theodor Gagnvald Lurifax. They lived not really happily, but never the less, together for six year on the outskirts of Christiania. Then one day all of a sudden, Aron was knocking on the door. Everybody had assumed he was dead, but now the poor Konstanse was pulled between two men whom she was both legally obliged to acknowledge as her husbands. Aron simply explained his six years long absence with the fact that Tomcats sometimes run away for some time. This was in his nature and there was no way around it.
So how could this terrible point of honor be settled? Theodor and Aron settled for a worthy closure of the problem and challenged each other to the death in a duel with pistols on thirty feet range. the outcome of this deadly action was that they both fired their weapons simultaneously giving upon each other a lethal wound.
Then poor konstanse was left alone as a double widow.
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21-Feb-2008 - Artwork Update - Drawing by the infant Felix Fiigenschou
 This small drawing is probaly a very rare and early piece made by the kitten Felix at the age of two or three months. The whereabouts or this sketch is unknown today. This is the only child drawing we know of from the hand of Felix Fiigenschou. It was found among the paintings and documents in famous discovery of cat art in Kjell O. Dahls Street in Oslo.
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21-Feb-2008 - Artwork Update - Portrait of Don Baltazar
 This is one of the most valued small paintings by Fiigenschou. Measuring 24,3 by 30,3 cm and in a superb state of preservation. Sold at Arnhold Launchback Auctions in 1911. Disappeared during the second world war recovered in 1967 and sold at Pace an Pollen Auctions in UK. The painting was then entered by an anonymous consigner. Signed and possibly dated 1633 (?), hence serving as evidence of the theory introduced by Cahrl Riis in 1968 that the last figure in the date is a "3" pushing the date one year after Fiigenschous official date of death. This argument was published in an essay titled "What on earth is this?" printed in the 1960´s magazine for popular science called " Things like this". His essay was met with a harsh reply by professor in dateriology, Lauritz Os, as he claimed that Mr. Riis surely could use a new pair of glasses. The story continues as these two scholars finally clashed together in a fist fight at the 1968 Academic Convention in Trondheim. To make even worse, Cahrl Riis`s daughter married the son of Lauritz Os one year later. We assume that´s one big happy family of eccentric scholars.
However, further tests and studies on the paintings by Fiigenschou indicates that the theories launched by Carhl Riis might be correct. Please take a look at the description of the "Equestrian portrait of Duke Gusman of Stadtwalt" for reference to such a test being conducted by PICA.
As for the painting, it is still regarded as one of the most adorable portraits of infants that Felix ever produced.
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21-Feb-2008 - Artwork Update - A study of a Mounted Cat
 This drawing from the Fiigenschou Sketchbook (1631-1632) is believed to have been a study for the large equestrian portrait of Duke Gusman of Stadtwalt. Although quite similar, there are some small changes Fiigenschou made when approaching the version in oil colors. He removed the maze head from the pole in the right hand of Duke Gusman.
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21-Feb-2008 - Artwork Update - Sketches
 This is another section from the sketchbook. This rare mid 17th. century collection of drawings includes a great variety of studies of cat anatomy.
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21-Feb-2008 - Artwork Update - A study of a Kitten
 This lovely, not to say sweat sketch is one of the most valued drawings from the sketchbook. Felix comments in a few lines under the sketch about the difficulty of capturing the gesture of the kitten as it is very difficult to make them sit still. This drawing is probably made around 1632.
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21-Feb-2008 - Artwork Update - Shield of Arms
 This image from Felix Fiigenschou´s sketchbook probably shows a study for a commission for a design. We know little about what this could be, but there are some speculations that indicate it could be something Felix made for The Family of Fredic Feline.
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20-Feb-2008 - Artwork Update - A study of a Kitten
 This lovely, not to say sweat sketch is one of the most valued drawings from the sketchbook. Felix comments in a few lines under the sketch about the difficulty of capturing the gesture of the kitten as it is very difficult to make them sit still. This drawing is probably made around 1632.
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20-Feb-2008 - Artwork Update - Shield of Arms
 This image from Felix Fiigenschou´s sketchbook probably shows a study for a commission for a design. We know little about what this could be, but there are some speculations that indicate it could be something Felix made for The Family of Fredic Feline.
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20-Feb-2008 - Artwork Update - A lady on a Horse
 The scene from this page from the sketchbook is also found a a separate drawing. Please look in the "Drawing Section" to view.
The fact that Felix took a great liking to horses is made clear by the many sketches of different scenes including horses and and cats mounted on these huge animals. We can today only speculate if the cats ever actually managed to ride horses,as their physical appearence today makes such assumptions rather unlikely, However, studies on the Cat Era might indicate that the cats from that time had a very different anatomical structure, and this had led to the theory claiming that humans, after taking possession over the world domination from the cat (Possibly around 1815) started breeding the cats down to small easily controllable pets. Newer the less, house cats today are resisting human control, and will never accept human domination to the same extent as the dogs.
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20-Feb-2008 - Artwork Update - Inventions of the Cat Era
 This is a page from the Felix Fiigenschou Sketchbook dating to 1631-1632.
Fiigenschou was working on some important inventions during his short vat life, but there seem to be no evidence he ever managed to get any of his airplane constructions to function.
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19-Feb-2008 - Artwork Update - A lady on a Horse
 A charming small study measuring 23 by 23 cm. Signed and dated 1632. Lead on thin paper.
This sketch is probably a study for a painting that was lost in a grand fire at the Glutenheim Museum.
This piece has provenance from Holterstadt Historische Museum (Sold during a financial crisis in 1988).
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19-Feb-2008 - Artwork Update - Study of Artur Feline
 A nice drawing measuring 20 by 30 cm by Felix Fiigenschou. Probably a sketch for the painting of the same person.
This piece was found during the refurbishing of a house in Oslo and hence showing a few folds and some foxing to the paper.
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About Me
« August 2008 »
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | | | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
Portfolios
| Drawings by Fiigenschou |
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| Exhibition pictures |
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| Prints by Fiigenschou |
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| Farmer Studies |
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| The Cat Era |
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| The Sketchbook |
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| Early Works |
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| Wilbert Untzendyck in a prisoners outfit |
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| Portrait of a young Royal Lady. |
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| Portrait of Suzi Whiscas |
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| Portrait of Larvald Laftehus |
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| Portrait of Andronius Austerman |
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| An early work |
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| A Royal Portrait from Spain |
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| Portrait of Rouy Alexander Feline |
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| Portrait of Don Baltazar |
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| Portrait of Monrad Feline |
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| Theodore Untzendyck |
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| Portrait of Holman Gladenius |
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| The young Muelas |
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| Fredric Feline |
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| Young lady by the window post |
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| Berthold Peltzenswanz |
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| Portait of Cato von Haagendachs |
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| Artur Feline |
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| Portrait of a Sami Cat |
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| Equestrian portrait of Duke Gusman |
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| Bridal journey in Hardanger |
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| Wlibert Untzendyck |
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Friends
missionart sethduhy garethlane
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