(Bern 1853–1918 Geneva)

Taker of the oath, Unanimity. 1912/13.

Oil on paper laid on canvas.

Signed lower right: F. Hodler.

34.5 × 21 cm.

Provenance:
- Galerie Moos, Geneva, 1918.
- Probably Galerie Pro Arte, Peseux, 28.6.1951, Lot 343.
- Private collection.
- Gutekunst & Klipstein sale, Bern, 12.11.1954, Lot 497, as 'Schwörender, 1913'.
- Collection of Karl Steiner.
- Swiss private collection.

Exhibited:
Geneva 1918, Exposition Ferdinand Hodler, Galerie Moos, Geneva, 11.5.–30.6.1918, no. 93 or 107, as 'Unanimité'.

Literature:
- Jura Brüschweiler and Rudolf Koella: Ferdinand Hodler. Sammlung Steiner, Zurich 1997, p. 94/95, 243, ill. 30, as 'Schwörender nach links zur Einmütigkeit, um 1912'.
- Oskar Bätschmann and Paul Müller: Ferdinand Hodler. Catalogue raisonné der Gemälde, vol. III, Die Figurenbilder, Zurich 2017, no. 1584, with ill.).


Between 1911 and 1913 Hodler employed the motif of this pose of an oath-taking figure in various compositions of different positions as part of his preparations for the large mural in the Hanover town hall (see also Lots 3038 and 3058). It first appears at the right outer edge in compositional designs from 1911. The figure can be found as a single figure with slashed garments in pencil studies that must have been created between 1911 and 1912. In the 1912 state of the Hanover version (cat. rais. 1495), the figure is eventually traceable as an oath-taking figure in a slightly modified gesture directly to the right of the orator. In the last state of that version, Hodler employed it as a secondary figure in the group to the right of the orator, where the figure is largely obscured by the figures standing before it (see Ill. Lot 3058).