Lot 518: JOSEF GRASSI, VIENNA 1755 - 1838 DRESDEN

signed and dated on the base of the urn centre left: J: Grassy pin A. 1800;
inscribed on the musical score "La partenza...."

oil on canvas

A PORTRAIT OF A LADY, SAID TO BE COUNTESS AUGUSTA NIMPTSCH, SEATED FULL LENGTH, DRESSED IN A YELLOW AND BLUE DRESS WITH A RED CLOAK, PLAYING AN ENGLISH GUITAR FROM A MUSIC SCORE

134.3 by 105.4 cm.

Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 7 July 1993, lot 279.

Educated in Vienna, Joesf Grassi was famous for his portraits representing ladies. His work was much in demand in Vienna and with the European nobility, and in 1800, the same year he painted the present portrait, he became a professor at the Academy in Dresden, where Anton Graff also worked.

The present painting is thought to be a portrait of Augusta Nimptsch, born Countess Marcolini Feretti. She became the second wife of Joseph, Count Nimptsch, Freiherr von Furst und Kupferberg.