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Gabriel Ambrosius DONATH (Grunau, 1684-1760 Dresden)
Fantasy…
See original version (French)
5
-
Gabriel Ambrosius DONATH (Grunau, 1684-1760 Dresden)
Fantasy…
See original version (French)
Estimate €4,000 - €6,000
Voluntary lot
Description
Gabriel Ambrosius DONATH (Grunau, 1684-1760 Dresden)
Fantasy on the Gallery of the Queen of Poland's Collection in Dresden
Oil on copper
35 x 45 cm
At the foot of the mantelpiece, signed and dated in gold letters: Anno 1737/ Gabriel Donath, barbatus faciebat Dresden.
Provenance :
- Most likely commissioned, along with other views, by Queen Maria Josef of Poland (1699-1757) (see Related work).
- Sotheby's sale, Paris, 26 March 2014, lot n°139.
Related work:
Gabriel Ambrosius Donath,
Fantaisie sur la galerie de la collection de la Reine de Pologne à Dresde, oil on copper,
37.5 x 45 cm, on the back, dedication by the artist in calligraphy, in Latin, to the Queen of Poland, private collection, current whereabouts unknown, Lempertz sale, 12 December 1991, no. 48
A talented miniaturist, Donath was recruited in 1733 as a painter at the court of Dresden by Augustus III (1696-1763), Elector of Saxony who became King of Poland in 1734, a great collector and patron of the arts.
He and his wife, née Marie-Josephe de Habsbourg (1699-1757), commissioned him to paint various court portraits and numerous views of the city. As his reputation grew, Donath was also involved in decorating several churches in the region, including the ceiling of the church in Ostritz and the altarpiece in the church in Grunau, his home town.
Our painting bears witness to the princely couple's taste, with this view of the Queen of Poland's collection, in a gallery that appears to have been freely inspired by that of her pleasure residence, the Palais im Großen Garten, built on the outskirts of Dresden from 1678 by Johann Georg Starcke and George Heermann.
This palace, where their wedding took place, also housed their collection of antiques, purchased from the Chigi and Albani families, as well as their collection of paintings, which included Raphael's Sistine Madonna. Unfortunately, the palace was badly damaged during the bombing of the city in February 1945, and nothing remains of its interior decor. Our painting gives an idea of its magnificence. It features the same types of stucco, porphyry and malachite decorations that we know decorated the palace's grand ballroom.
Donath composed at least one other view of this gallery (see Related work), with its characteristic Baroque theatricality. In addition to the decorative programme, which is very much linked to faith, there is the highly unusual effect of a divine apparition bursting through the ceiling. Christ, cloaked in glory and surrounded by a cohort of angels, appears in full majesty. The artist blurs the boundaries between inside and outside, between the profane and the sacred, creating a world of paintings within paintings, where the divine communicates with the earthly.
Through the major axis formed by the large paintings on the mantelpiece, the viewer is offered a path to salvation, from Adam to the triumph of Jesus, from the Fall of Man to the Forgiveness of Mankind. Probably created to satisfy the faith of Queen Marie-Josèphe, the first Catholic sovereign at the court of Dresden and the founder of the Holy Trinity Cathedral, Donath's work is intended as a painted book, a painting of the Gospel evoking the Queen's faith with grace and majesty.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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