The Virgin Mary crowned by two angels
Italy, second half 16th C.
Glass panel painted on reverse in eglomisé technique with etched gold leaf and opaque and transparent pigments. With a label on the reverse inscribed in ink: "Hinterglasgemälde Kölner Arbeit 16 - 17. Jahrhundert Vgl. Stück im Kölner Kunstgew. Museum". Retouches to the blue above and surrounding the Virgin. Ebonised ripple moulded walnut frame, H 24.3, W 19.2 cm.
This early and important small glass panel is based on an engraving by Albrecht Dürer (1471 - 1528), which is dated 1518 within its motif. The reverse glass painter has not included the fence that surrounds the "hortus conclusus" in Dürer's print. Instead, the painting features a southern mountain landscape with a low horizon line in the background, as can be seen in many Italian Renaissance paintings. The slight grey tint of the flesh and the etching technique used date the piece to the late Mannerist phase of the latter part of the 16th century.
This lot includes the original print.
Provenance
Inscribed "Fritz Greve" in ink on the reverse.
Art market, Munich.
Literature
Illus. in Steiner, Hinterglas und Kupferstich. Hinterglasgemälde und ihre Vorlagen 1550 - 1850, Munich 2004, p. 42 f.
Illus. in Steiner, "...denn ich verkünde Euch eine große Freude!" – Die Weihnachtsgeschichte in der Hinterglasmalerei 1550 - 1850, Mittenwald 2008, illus. 27.
Illus. in Riepertinger (ed.), Bayern - Italien. Katalog zur Bayerischen Landesausstellung, Augsburg 2010, illus. 273.
Illus. in Steiner, Goldglanz und Silberpracht – Hinterglasmalerei aus vier Jahrhunderten, Berlin-Munich 2015, no. 9.
Cf. Ritz, Hinterglasmalerei – Geschichte, Erscheinung, Technik, Munich 1975, pl. 5.
Cf. Schott/Volk, Gemalt hinter Glas: Studioausstellung anlässlich der Restaurierung der Tischplatten aus dem Spiegelkabinett der Würzburger Residenz, Munich 1988, cat. no. 4.
Exhibitions
2005 - 2006 "Eleganz in Glanz", Barockmuseum Salzburg.
2008 Schaezlerpalais der Kunstsammlungen und Museen Augsburg.
2008 - 2009 Geigenbaumuseum Mittenwald.
2010 Bayerische Landesausstellung Augsburg/Füssen.
2010 Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte Augsburg.
2015 Schaezlerpalais der Kunstsammlungen und Museen Augsburg.