Die Werbung ("Das Liebespaar", "Die Hochzeit", "Narziss")

Hans von Marées was one of the most significant and enigmatic German painters of the 19th century — a figure who pursued a monumental, classicizing vision of the human figure largely outside the mainstream of academic and Impressionist art. This 1885 large-scale work, known variously as 'The Courtship,' 'The Couple,' 'The Wedding,' and 'Narcissus,' is characteristic of his late allegorical figure paintings — meditative and deliberately ambiguous in subject. Von Marées worked in Italy for most of his adult life, and his work anticipates the Neo-Classical and Symbolist movements that emerged after his death.

Von Marées builds his figure compositions in rich, layered paint with a warm, golden tonality derived from Old Master glazing technique. His figures are rendered with sculptural solidity and classical idealization, set against landscape backgrounds of atmospheric depth. The handling is controlled and deliberate, without Impressionist spontaneity.