(Vienna 1812–1905)
The Minorite Church in Vienna, 1846, collector’s stamp of Ludwig Lobmeyer (Lugt 387) and Georg Plach (Lugt 1188), indistinctly legible inscription in pencil “No. 40”, watercolour on pencil on paper; verso drawing of an interior in pencil, inscribed with brown ink “No. 159 Rud. Alt. Wien. Minoritenkirche. Studie”, collector’s stamp of Friedrich Jakob Gsell (Lugt 1108), 35.5 x 28 cm, unframed

Provenance:
Collection Friedrich Jakob Gsell (1812-1871), Vienna;
His sale, Wawra, Vienna, 15 March 1872, Lot 881;
Collection Georg Plach (1818-1885), Vienna;
Collection Ludwig Lobmeyr (1829-1917), Vienna;
His sale, Wawra, Vienna, 22 October 1917, Lot 123;
Collection Wilhelm Heinrich Schab (1887-1975), Vienna/New York;
Thence by descent to his daughter Frances Remeny (1920-2018), New York;
Thence by descent to her nephew Dr. David W. Schab, New York.

Exhibited:
Deutschnationale Kunst-Ausstellung, Düsseldorf, 1907.

Catalogued in:
Walter Koschatzky, Rudolf von Alt. 1812–1905, Salzburg 1975, CR 46/10.

Literature:
Arthur Roessler, Rudolf v. Alt, Verlag Karl Graeser, 1909 pl. 50.

The Minorite Church on the square of the same name near Vienna’s Hofburg is a Gothic courtly building from the late 13th century. The elaborately designed main portal on the west façade, modelled after the French style, was built around 1350 and is separated from the side nave portals by two mighty buttresses, which were bricked up as early as 1513. In Walter Koschatzky’s catalogue raisonné, this remarkable monument of the late Gothic period in Vienna is mentioned as a motif only three times - in 1846, 1848 and 1852. The present watercolour from 1846 is the only one to be documented with an illustration. It is described on the reverse as a ‘study’, which the painter drew on the spot with quick, impulsive brushstrokes. This gives this particular sheet its exciting freshness and lightness. The painter has assessed the subject with an experienced eye and taken a sideways position, placing the towering but largely unadorned façade of the former mendicant church diagonally and filling the space in the picture field. The almost dizzying mightiness of the building, whose sharp line stands out against the emptiness of the white sheet at the top, is also emphasised by the contrast with the neighbouring lower buildings. These are depicted in detail with a fine brush and brown ink, while the painter generously applies the watery grey and brown tones with a broad brush to the façade, playfully alternating between areas of light and shadow. It is unsurprising that this singular piece was acquired by the most important collectors of the late 19th century - Jakob Gsell, Georg Plach and Ludwig Lobmeyr.