(Grünstadt 1719–1768 Darmstadt) Venus and Adonis, oil on panel, 63 x 80 cm, framed We are grateful to Dr. Gerhard Kölsch, Frankfurt am Main, for his help in identifying the artist. His certificate from August 2013 is available. Dr. Kölsch writes in his certificate: ‘This painting of Venus and Adonis, entirely unknown among scholars to date, is not only a masterpiece from Seekatz’s late period, but also a remarkable testimony of the artist’s devotion to mythological Baroque painting of French and Flemish making. The present work substantially adds to our knowledge of the multifaceted oeuvre of this Darmstadt-based painter…’ Johann Conrad Seekatz, who came from a family of artists active in the Palatinate and was trained as a church painter, became apprenticed to the Palatine court painter Ph. H. Brinckmann in Mannheim in 1748. In 1753 he was appointed second court painter to Landgrave Louis VIII of Hesse-Darmstadt. In Darmstadt, Seekatz painted biblical and mythological subjects, as well as animal pieces and occasionally also portraits. On the Frankfurt art market, his small genre scenes painted ‘in the Dutch manner’ were soon much in demand. He received numerous commissions not only from Privy Councillor Goethe, but also from the Count de Thoranc, known as ‘Royal Lieutenant’ (see Goethe’s Poetry and Truth). Around 1765, Seekatz began to devote himself to a group of large mythological subjects such as the Narcissus in Frankfurt (see fig.1). A highlight is the series of seventeen overdoors in Braunshardt Palace for George William of Hesse (today Wolfsgarten Palace and Schlossmuseum Darmstadt). The present composition reveals several stylistic features that securely tie it to Seekatz’s oeuvre. The draperies, with their deep, sharp, and angular folds, as well as the pink cloak of Venus, one end floating freely in the wind, appear entirely typical of Seekatz’s art. The rendering of Venus and Adonis stands out for its light, vibrant, and in parts sketchy brushwork. Especially in the passage of the sky, the paint is applied so thinly that reddish underpainting shines through; by contrast, other areas show what is almost an impasto treatment. Solely the protagonists seem to have been executed more carefully; however, the faces of Adonis and the putti are nevertheless rather coarsely painted, which lends the depiction a most lively and even virtuoso character. Seekatz employed this sketchy style as an artistic means of expression around 1760–65 (compare Apollo Chasing Daphne, c. 1765, Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt, and Allegory of the Four Seasons, c. 1762, Freies Deutsches Hochstift, Frankfurt am Main). What is also typical of this period, which marks the transition to the artist’s late work, is not least the palette of light coloured pastel shades, dominated by pink, light blue, turquoise, and brownish nuances. The stylistic features and similarities in terms of figure style and composition described above allow us to date the painting around 1765. The composition Luna and Endymion (c. 1765, oil on panel, 63.5 x 80 cm), which appeared on the Southern German art market, was probably conceived as a pendant to the present work.

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