Mount Calvary
Veneto or Tyrol, 16th C.
Moulded glass panel painted on reverse in eglomisé technique with gold leaf and opaque and transparent pigments. Minor retouches to the white. Frameless support, glass dimensions H 25.4, W 20.4 cm.
The model for this impressive reverse glass painting was an engraving by the Master of the Die (Maestro del Dado, active in Rome, first half of the 16th century, probably identical with Bernardo Daddi) after Raphael (1483 - 1520), dated 1532.
The painter reproduced the composition of the Crucifixion with the shepherds to one side and numerous other auxiliary figures in a laterally reversed manner. In contrast to the horizontally hatched sky of the engraving, the reverse glass painter added the city of Jerusalem in the background, overlaid with bands of colour in a gradient from white to green to a luminous blue. This is a realistic depiction of the sky, but the intensity of the colours also enhances the work's spiritual effect.
This lot contains the original print.
Provenance
Art market, Padua.
Literature
Illus. in Steiner, Verborgene Schätze – Tiroler Hinterglasmalerei 1550 - 1850, Brixen 2009, illus. 14.
Illus. in Steiner, ... eine andere Art von Malerey. Hinterglasgemälde und ihre Vorlagen 1550 - 1850, Berlin-Munich 2012, illus. 6.
Illus. in Trepesch (ed.) Hinterglaskunst aus Europa. Festschrift für Wolfgang Steiner, Augsburg 2013, p. 59.
Exhibitions
2009 - 2010 Diözesanmuseum Hofburg Brixen.
2012 Schaezlerpalais der Kunstsammlungen und Museen Augsburg.