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| German School, circa 1704-1715 |
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A Nobleman’s Picture Gallery
Gouache on paper mounted on panel
33 x 53 cm
13 x 21 in
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André François Miot comte de Melito (1762-1841)
By descent from the family |
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This rare and charming gouache by an artist of the German School depicts a visit to a nobleman’s picture gallery. Hitherto undocumented, the present painting represents a valuable addition to the genre of paintings of picture galleries, fashionable in Northern Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. Most paintings of this genre depict imaginary picture galleries. The Flemish artists Frans Francken II and David Teniers II, as well as by the German artists Johann M. Bretschneider and Wilhelm Schubert van Ehrenberg were all proficient in this genre. However, our painting is uncommon for various reasons: it has both real and imaginary features, the full meaning of which is still unclear, and is made in gouache unlike most other such paintings executed in oils.
The picture gallery is covered with paintings symmetrically displayed from the central architectural opening through which we may capture a view of the palace gardens at the very end. It is unclear whether this central opening is indeed an opening or whether it is a large mirror. Although mirrors served to create the illusion of greater space, in the 17th and 18th century they were also used to increase daylight as the advent of artificial lighting did not occur until later. Concerning the paintings within the painting, many are in the style of famous artists, yet none of them appear to be as yet fully identifiable. It is possible that they were made after now lost engravings. The fairly large paintings that represent Salome with the head of Herod as well as Lot and his daughters recall Adam Elsheimer; the landscape with cows on the lowest row to the right of the doorway is strongly reminiscent of Nicolaes Berchem; the cavalry and battle scenes evoke Philips Wouwermann; the mythological scenes Jan Boeckhorst; the genre scenes Adriaen Brouwer; the dead game Jan Vonck; the heads of prophets Lucas Cranach the Elder, etc. The large landscapes may well be topographical scenes of the Danube made after Joris Hoefnagel or perhaps engravings by Matthäus Merian.
In the foreground, the nobleman-collector, dressed in a fashionable ‘banyan’, shows his two guests around gesturing towards the portrait of Louis XIV positioned on the cabinet. We may safely assume that he is the collector from his distinct costume. Banyans were elegant dressing gowns made of Asian silk worn by men in Europe from the early 18th century. Such garments were worn at home over day clothes and were a symbol of wealth and erudition. Well-to-do intellectual men often had themselves painted wearing banyans in a setting that evoked learning (1). The two guests, however, are dressed in outdoor wear: stockings over breeches, knee-length doublets and periwigs, attire that was especially fashionable in the reign of Louis XIV (1643–1715).
The dating of the costumes of the three men concurs with that of the portraits within our painting. Indeed, these portraits represent real people who lived contemporaneously at the turn of the 18th century:
Top left: Kaiser Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (1640–1705)
Top right: Eleonore Magdalena Theresia (1655–1720), Leopold I’s wife
Above the doorway, left: Johann Wilhelm II, Elector Palatine (1658–1716)
Above the doorway, right: Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici (1667–1743), Johann’s wife
Lower left: Prince Eugene of Savoy (1663–1736), military commander for the Austrian Habsburgs
Lower right: John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (1650–1722), military commander of the British Army
On the cabinet: Louis XIV, King of France (1638–1715)
All of the men listed above were involved in the Battle of Blenheim, a major battle in the War of the Spanish Succession, fought on 13 August 1704. Louis XIV of France sought to knock Emperor Leopold out of the war by seizing Vienna, the Habsburg capital. The Elector of Bavaria wanted to supplant the Austrian Habsburg line with the House of Wittelsbach and in doing so take over as Holy Roman Emperor. Although Johann Wilhelm was not as directly involved in the conflict, he supported the Austrian resistance. Responding to appeals from Vienna, which was threatened by French and Bavarian forces, the English commander, John Churchill Duke of Marlborough, joined forces with the Austrian general, Prince Eugene of Savoy. At Blenheim their combined army overwhelmed the Franco-Bavarian force. For the first time in two generations the French suffered a crushing defeat, and the results were immediate and far-reaching. Vienna was saved and Bavaria conquered. The territorial ambitions of Louis XIV beyond the Rhine were checked and placed on the defensive.
The conspicuous absence of the portrait of the Elector of Bavaria, Maximilian II Emanuel, who was forced to seek exile in Belgium and then at the court of Versailles between 1704 and 1715, suggests that the original owner of our painting must have been a supporter of Leopold I. It also suggests that our gouache dates between 1704 (the onset of the Battle of Blenheim) and 1715 (the end of the War of the Spanish Succession and the death of Louis XIV).
It is also possible to identify some of the portraits on the right wall:
Middle, left: Queen Anne of England (1665–1714)
Middle, right: Prince George of Denmark (1653–1708)
Lower left: Charles XII, King of Sweden (1682–1718)
As well as on the left wall:
Peter I the Great of Russia (1672–1725)
The idea that our painting represents a fictional picture gallery is based on the discovery of four engravings virtually identical to four portraits in our painting – those of the Duke of Marlborough, Queen Anne, King George and Peter the Great. The engravings of the three British personalities were engraved by John Smith after paintings by Godfrey Kneller and were widely distributed in Europe. It was common practice, especially in the genre of picture galleries, to make paintings after engravings. It is therefore almost certain that our painting depicts an imaginary picture gallery.
However, the almanac on the cabinet is based on a real heraldic calendar that concurs with the time frame described above. It is based on a woodcut German edition of the official heraldic calendar of the Prince-Bishop and Cathedral Chapter of Passau in Bavaria, formerly a sovereign clerical state with its own small territory (until the secularisation in 1802-1803). Such calendars were produced between 1670 and 1727 and very little is known about their circulation. If our painting represents a real document, then the castle was in possession of a catholic, whose son or uncle was a member of the Passau Cathedral Chapter, because such calendars were only received by the Prince Bishop, the capitulars or noble guests (2). The following information about our almanac can be deciphered:
Coat of arms top left: Coat of arms, Passau (a wolf), possibly the main dignitary of the Cathedral Chapter
Coat of arms second from top left: Family von Harrach
Top right: Prince Bishop
Centre: Martyrdom of St Stephen, the patron saint of Passau Cathedral, flanked by two patrons, St Maximilian (holding a miniature Church) and St Valentine (to the right).
The presence of the coat of arms of the family von Harrach is especially significant. Indeed, Franz Anton Graf von Harrach was the Provost of Passau at this time, between 1692 and 1706, and may be related to the early provenance of the picture.
The discovery of the almanac coupled with the identification of the portraits allows us to make the following assumption: that the original owner of our painting must have been a Catholic, a supporter of the Emperor Leopold I in the War of the Spanish Succession, and a nobleman with important ties to the Cathedral Chapter of Passau, Bavaria. Our gouache may well have been done to celebrate the victory of the Austrians over Louis XIV. The author of our painting is still unknown. Although the style is very similar to that of Johann Jakob Kleeman (1739-1790), the dates unfortunately do not concur. Our gouache appears to be the hand of a gifted amateur, which complicates the search of finding a suitable attribution.
The present painting is also noteworthy for its provenance. It belonged to the famous French statesman and scholar, André François de Miot comte de Melito who was a close ally of Napoleon Bonaparte. He occupied various important governmental positions, namely as secretary-general for foreign affairs and as minister of the interior, before being created comte de Melito in 1814. That same year, he left for Germany where he spent several years with his daughter, whose second husband, the General Wilhelm August von Fleischmann (b. 1787–after 1881), was adjutant to King William I of Württemberg (1781–1864) in Paris in 1831. We know that Fleischmann and Melito shared close family and political ties, for it is Fleischmann who translated, prefaced and edited the count’s memoirs (3). The Melito family may well have received the work through their relation with Fleischmann.
References:
(1) Alison McNeil Kettering, « Gentleman in Satin: Masculine Ideals in Later Seventeenth-Century Dutch Portraiture », Art Journal, 56, 2, Summer 1997, pp. 41-47.
(2) We are grateful to Mr Josef Biller, art historian and specialist of German heraldic calendars for this information.
(3) Wilhelm August Fleischmann, Memoirs of the Count Miot de Melito, Minister, Ambassador, Councillor of State, and member of the Instite of France, between the years 1788 and 1815 (1881).
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