Installed in a gold painted frame, 10 1/2 inches tall by 13 1/8 inches wide, with a combination of white and green matte, the watercolor painting (5"x8" visible, true dimensions unknown) depicts a walled church atop a wooded hill. The structure is rendered in gray and red tinted brown, with a red steeple roof, blue/gray for the other roof, and a mixture of green/yellow-green for the landscape. In the lower right corner is the signature; "A. Hitler/09", and on the back is a small inventory sticker made out to "Lidy Baarova" and addressed to her villa in Prague. A resident of Vienna, Austria after leaving his parent's home, Hitler was twice rejected from the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts (1907 and 1908); while he was able to pass the first stage of testing (painting an assigned subject in six hours), his portfolio was described as containing "too few heads", and the young man was advised to pursue architecture. Sticking it out in Vienna until 1913, he continued to paint buildings and landscapes, hocking them for rent money or trading them for goods and services; later, when Hitler's political star began to rise, those old pieces (and a number of fakes) became well-sought items on the collector market. In a rare bit of self awareness and modesty from the man who thought he could invade Russia and Britain at the same time, Hitler recognized that his art's value was connected to his famous name, reportedly admitting that he "wasn't a very good artist". A large number of these paintings were bought or confiscated by agents of the National Socialist Central Archives in Munich, which vetted the artwork for authenticity and presented them to the Fuehrer for approval. Many of these paintings were seen as an embarrassment and destroyed. The included documentation for the print centers around a letter from Lida Baarova dated 3.5.1996, which gives a limited provenance for the painting; the first step in the provenance is a "Vieth Harlan", possibly Viet Harlan, German film director and propagandist responsible for "Jud Suess", a film so actively anti-semitic that he was brought up on charges for it post-War (he blamed everything on Goebbels). Harlan sold the painting to Gustav Froehlich, German actor most famous for playing Freder Fredersen in Fritz Lang's Metropolis, who then in turn presented it to his then-fiancé Baarova, with a warning that it had been hidden from the Archivists search for Hitler Art, and was to be shown to no one. Aside from a period from 1945-1950s where she was separated from it, Baarova retained the painting until the 1990s. Born Ludmilla Babkova in Prague, 1914, Baarova received her first film role at age 17, and was recruited by German talent scouts. In 1937, while engaged to regular co-star Froehlich, she was introduced to Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. What happened afterwards is a subject of contention, with some sources insisting that the relationship between the two was completely chaste and others suggesting some very lurid scenarios, but the end result was that her relationship with Froehlich broke down and Hitler ordered her out of the country in 1939 to protect the Nazi Party's image of upholding traditional values. Returning to the Czech Republic, Baarova was imprisoned for 18 months after the war on suspicion of being a Gestapo collaborator, and later resumed her film career in Italy before settling down in Austria, where she passed on in 2000. Also included with the lot is a small 800 proof silver box with "LB" monogrammed lid (noted in Baarova's letter), a custom-made hardwood transport case and a binder of papers including the letter (with translation), consignor research materials, photographs of Baarova with high-ranking Nazis (including Hitler and Goebbels) signed publicity cards of Baarova and Froehlich, and trade magazine clippings from both actors careers.

Very good, with minimal handling marks on the frame. A few small brown stains are visible in the sky of the painting. The silver box shows a well aged patina overall. Please note that this condition covers physical state only; we offer no opinion on the artistic, aesthetic or technical qualities of the painting. The box is very good.