(Memmingen 1640–1704 Augsburg)
Life drawing room with male model,
oil on canvas, 75 x 58.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Austrian Private Collection

We are grateful to Peter Königfeld, who has confirmed the painting as an authentic work by Heiss on the basis of a high-resolution photograph.

The present painting is closely linked to the depiction of a life drawing room in the Westfälisches Landesmuseum in Münster and to a second, very similar version that appeared in the London art market in 1996. All three pictures are based on Heiss’ depictions of life drawing rooms from 1687 (Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Brunswick). E. Meier wrote in the catalogue of the Heiss exhibition in Friedrichshafen in 2002 (Johann Heiß, Schwäbischer Meister barocker Pracht, Friedrichshafen 2002, p. 136): “The numerous academy paintings by Johann Heiss give reason to believe that some Augsburg artists were not happy with their traditional status. They no longer regarded themselves as simple manual craftsmen, but as free, cultivated citizens who conducted intellectual studies at the Academy. The Academy of Art would supplement the training of artists by offering its advanced trainees and apprentices, in addition to traditional workshop training, the chance to draw from life and discuss art”.