Portraits of the Donors of the Monastery of Zábrdovice
circa 1778-79
18th century
22.2 cm x 35.2 cm (8 3/4 in. x 13 7/8 in.)
Joseph Johann Winterhalter
(Vöhrenbach (Black Forest), 1743 - 1807, Znojmo (Czech Republic))
Primary
Object Type:
drawing
Artist Nationality:
Europe, German
Medium and Support:
Pen and brown ink with brush and brown wash over graphite on cream antique laid
Credit Line:
Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, The Suida-Manning Collection, 2017
Accession Number:
2017.1438
Winterhalter was active in south Moravia, a frequent collaborator of Maulbertsch, and one of the last major figures in the Central European tradition of grand decoration. This is a preparatory study for an illusionistic fresco of the founders of the Premonstratensian Monastery at Zabrdovice (Czech Republic). His only signed and dated drawing, it reveals Winterhalter’s debt to Maulbertsch in the broad description, mobile light and iridescent color.