(Grafenwörth 1718–1801 Stein/Donau)
The Last Supper,
oil on canvas, 94 x 150 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection, Lower Austria, since 1920/30

The present work is an unpublished smaller version of the painting (227 x 391 cm) by Kremser Schmidt in the collections of the Benedictine Abbey St. Paul im Lavanttal, Carinthia (see R. Feuchtmüller, Der Kremser Schmidt, Innsbruck 1989, illustrated 345, p. 451, no. 529).

Georg Lechner writes about the painting in the refectory of St. Paul (see Der Kremser Schmidt – Zum 300. Geburtstag, S. Röllig (ed.), exhibition catalogue, Vienna 2018, p. 18): ‘The Last Supper is the largest format, measuring 227 by 391 centimetres. It thus dominates the others due to its mere appearance, but together with the Washing of the Feet provides a thematic bracket for the various scenes in the sense of a narrative framework. For his Last Supper, the artist has chosen the very dramatic moment in which Jesus hands a piece of bread he has dipped into the wine to Judas the traitor, thus identifying him as the figure moved up closest to the viewer and recognisable by his money pouch (John 13:21–28). On the one hand, Schmidt faithfully follows the biblical account, and on the other hand offers additional accessories, such as the open book of the Holy Scripture in the background or the apostle in the foreground pouring wine into a chalice, thereby alluding to the Holy Communion […].’

With such compositions as the present painting, Kremser Schmidt established his reputation as an artist of supra-regional eminence. Next to Franz Anton Maulbertsch and Paul Troger, he was one of the most renowned Austrian painters of the eighteenth century. He worked for clerical and secular patrons, decorating churches, convents, and palaces. The travel writer Ignaz de Luca (1756–1799) wrote about Kremser Schmidt: ‘Those confronted with Schmidt’s works will always readily admit that he is a first-rate painter of our time, doing immense credit to his nation […]’ (see I. de Luca, Das gelehrte Oesterreich, Ein Versuch, vol. 1, part 2, Vienna 1778, pp. 347-48, cited in: S. Röllig, Ibid., 2018, p. 11).