And in that sense, Wolf was following Junghanns’ lead. “The symbiotic relationship between people and their animals was very important to this school, starting with von Zügel. Wolf finished his studies at von Zügel’s school of animal painting.”

Collectors coming to Santa Fe for its profusion of Western-themed art, where the horse still reigns, may appreciate these slices of agrarian life from halfway round the world, even if they’ve never heard of Junghanns.

“I think, if not for the Third Reich, he would probably be much more famous,” Gordon says. “But his timing was not good. The 1920s through the 1950s was not the best time to be a German painter.”

That may be true, particularly in regard to the American art market, leery of championing German and Austrian artists who maintained associations with the National Socialist Party throughout World War II. But in Nazi-era Europe, Junghanns’ received some notoriety. His work was widely circulated by members of the Third Reich who praised its traditional style and idyllic representations. Although he regularly exhibited at the Great German Art Exhibition of National Socialist art, it was something he regretted later in life, and he never joined the Nazi party. But it’s likely that the association continues to hinder his reputation today.

“He was known all over the world,” Gordon says. “And then he just fell away.”