RKD STUDIES

Much has been written about the rediscovery of Rembrandt‘s chiaroscuro in the works of the great Austrian baroque painters Martin Johann Schmidt and Franz Anton Maulbertsch.¹ They were contemporaries of Januarius Zick and the Frankfurt Rembrandtists, but in their case the Rembrandt style is less easy to grasp than in the work of the conventional painters from Central Germany. Of course they both were acquainted with the etchings of Rembrandt. Which German artist of standing, by the way, was not familiar with the graphic compositions by Rembrandt? On top of this, the Austrians were very probably conversant with some of his early paintings, like The Blinding of Samson, which Johann Zick copied [1-2].²

From Martin Johann Schmidt or ´Kremserschmidt’ (1718-1801),³ for example, we have a depiction of Christ Healing the Sick in the manner of Rembrandt and Dou, that has come down to us in an etching by Ferdinand Landerer [3]. The composition of Rembrandt’s The Blinding of Samson comes back in a drawing with the depiction of Sisera, which was made in 1760 [4].⁴ Admittedly, the extended figures of the young Rembrandt can be found more often in his works [5-8],⁵ but the significance of such borrowings should not be exaggerated. The correlation with Rubens and Flemish painting is just as strong [9-10], and primarily the close connection with Venice must be pointed out, where Giambattista Pittoni was his rival.

1
Rembrandt
The blinding of Samson (Judges 16:21), dated 1636
Frankfurt am Main, Städel Museum, inv./cat.nr. 1383

2
Franz Anton Maulbertsch after Rembrandt
The blinding of Samson (Judges 16:21), c. 1787-1790
Vienna, Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, inv./cat.nr. 6975

With Franz Anton Maulbertsch (1724-1796)⁶ it is no different. In the first place the stimuli came from Venice. As Benesch has pointed out, Piazetta’s example especially was of major importance, with, additionally, a few borrowings from Dutch art. Maulbertsch’s small painting Joseph Explaining his Dreams is a free copy after Rembrandt’s etching, in which all light-dark contrasts have been balanced out and in which the story has been lyricised [11, 13]. The companion piece of the Joseph, a depiction of Esther and Mordechai [13], is full of borrowings from Rembrandt’s graphics, but such cases are rather rare in Maulbertsch’s oeuvre.⁷

11
Rembrandt
Joseph recounting his dreams, dated 1638
Amsterdam, Rijksprentenkabinet

At the same time, in the theatrical, biblical paintings of his early days, he often introduced the dramatic lighting of Rembrandt’s Night Watch and the silhouette effect of figures from the early etchings. In the veneration of the young Rembrandt, of Leonaert Bramer and the Dutch grotto painters, he often touched on Januarius Zick, for instance in The Marriage of the Virgin (Vienna) [14] and The Anointing of David (Nuremberg) [15].⁸ But the relationship with Venetian art remains predominant and the admiration for Rubens’ glowing creations is very striking now and again [16-17].⁹

While listing all these influences, however, we have to emphasize that the works of Maulbertsch and Schmidt present a unique and flourishing Austrian baroque art.