Franz von Stuck

Franz von Stuck painted myth and temptation in dark, glowing colour. Sphinxes, centaurs, fauns and seductive women emerge from black backgrounds, and he often designed heavy gilded frames as part of the work. His best known picture, The Sin, shows a pale woman wrapped in a great snake.

He was born in Tettenweis in Bavaria and studied in Munich, where he first worked as an illustrator. In 1892 he helped found the Munich Secession, and he taught at the Munich Academy from 1895, where Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky and Josef Albers were among his students. He designed his own house and studio, the Villa Stuck, which is now a museum in Munich.

Battle for a Woman and Amazon and Centaur show his taste for strong, sculptural bodies in dramatic struggle. Look at how he uses deep shadow to make the figures stand out.