An instrument maker with cello and his tools is shown finishing the instrument in his workshop, while in the background on the wall hang other various luthier's tools and instruments as well as other string instruments.  A very fine and atmospheric genre painting with beautiful treatment of the light by the German realist painter known for his quiet, introspective interiors, often illuminated by natural light, which he created in Weimar.

Oil on cardboard, signed and inscribed "Herm. Graf, Wr. (Weimar)", on the reverse inscribed "Herm. Graf, Weimar" as well as "53,5/61,5" and "C.09", handwritten in pencil "Silberhengst" (?), partially glazed, minor retouches, framed, inner dimensions approx. 61.5 x 53.5 cm.

Son and pupil of the painter Franz Josef Adolf Cornelius Graf (1840-1915), Hermann initially worked as a musician, then studying 1897-1900 at the Weimar art school under Aristide Sartorio and Max Thedy, 1900-02  at the Munich academy under Carl von Marr and Ludwig von Löfftz, then travelling to Holland, Belgium and Denmark, subsequently settling in Weimar. He was represented at numerous exhibitions from 1904, including at the Glaspalast exhibition in 1904-20, at the Great German Art Exhibition at the Haus der Deutschen Kunst in Munich in 1937, and at the major art exhibitions in Berlin in 1905-20 and in Düsseldorf in 1911-20.  A member of the Munich Artists' Co-operative, the General Art Co-operative and board member of the Pension and Retirement Institute for German Visual Artists in Weimar.