Lot 123: JOHANN BAPTIST DRECHSLER

JOHANN BAPTIST DRECHSLER VIENNA 1756 - 1811 STILL LIFE OF ROSES, MORNING GLORIES, PRIMROSES, A TULIP AND OTHER FLOWERS IN A GLASS VASE, WITH A BIRD AND BIRD'S NEST, ALL ON A STONE LEDGE WITHIN A NICHE signed with initials and dated lower left: J D 1789 oil on panel 11 3/4 by 8 5/8 in.; 29.9 by 22 cm.

With Pannonia Gallery;
By whom (anonymously) sold, New York, Sotheby Parke-Bernet, 8 January 1981, lot 89;
There purchased by the present collectors.

Johann Baptist Drechsler was the leading still-life painter in Vienna at the turn of the nineteenth century. At the age of sixteen, he began his career painting flowers at the Vienna porcelain factory and remained there until 1785. He was appointed Professor of the newly created flower drawing class at the Academy in 1787 and eventually rose to be the Director of the Academy in 1807. He began producing easel paintings while still at the porcelain factory, but the majority of his work of this type dates from after he left until his death in 1811. Drechsler was certainly aware of the work of the earlier Dutch still life masters, such as Jan van Huysum and Rachel Ruysch, and their influence is clearly discernable in his work.

Drechsler typically set his floral arrangements against a niche as can be seen in the present example, and in lots 124-126 of this sale, setting off the brilliant colors of the flowers against a darker background. Dated examples are known from 1785 onwards, marking the present still life a relatively early work by the artist.

We are grateful to Fred Meijer of the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague for confirming the attribution, based on an image.