Figures near a mausoleum
Oil Painting
1726-1740 (painted)
1726-1740 (painted)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Franz de Paula Ferg (1689-1740) was trained as a landscape painter by his father, Adam Pankraz Ferg (1651-1729) and Josef Orient (1677-1747). He also studied staffage painting with Johann (Hans) Graf (1653-1710). In 1718 he left Vienna to Franconia, Bamberg and Leipzig and later travelled to Lower Saxony. In 1724, he settled in London where he died in misery.
This painting is a fine example of Franz de Paula Ferg's series of capricci he executed shortly after his arrival in London around 1724. It shows a group of travellers in front of ruins surmounted on the left by a urn-shaped vase and a sphinx on the right in an idealised landscape. This is a typical example of his production that combines influences of the Dutch, Flemish and Italian schools, executed in a relatively dark palette.
This painting is a fine example of Franz de Paula Ferg's series of capricci he executed shortly after his arrival in London around 1724. It shows a group of travellers in front of ruins surmounted on the left by a urn-shaped vase and a sphinx on the right in an idealised landscape. This is a typical example of his production that combines influences of the Dutch, Flemish and Italian schools, executed in a relatively dark palette.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Figures near a mausoleum (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Oil on copper |
| Brief description | Oil painting entitled 'Figures near a Mausoleum' by Franz de Paula Ferg. Austrian school, 1726-1740. |
| Physical description | Italianate landscape dominated by a large stone mausoleum topped by a sculpture of a sphinx. Figures in rural Italian costume ride past on horses or pause and rest at the base. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Marks and inscriptions | 'F: Ferg' (Signed by the artist on stone in foreground) |
| Credit line | Bequeathed by Henry Louis Florence |
| Object history | Bequeathed by Henry L. Florence, 1916 Historical significance: This painting is a typical example of early 18th-century compositions which combine landscape and genre and more specifically characteristic of Austrian painting influenced by Dutch, Flemish and Italian models. The colours are dark, and the staffage figures are in peculiarly wooden poses. In 1726 he created a series of eight etched Capricci (preparatory sketches in Vienna, Albertina), which help to date many smaller pictures to the London period. Comparable compositions include two other capricci in the Kunsthalle, Hamburg, albeit in brighter palette. |
| Historical context | Landscape paintings became extremely popular during the 17th century and increasingly encompassed a variety of forms and genres. Painters had a new attention for nature and their familiar surroundings and progressively did experiments with innovative techniques concentrating on the atmospheric effects and the sense of depth. Dutch and Flemish landscapes were particularly praised and admired, influencing a large number of foreign artists who tent to imitate their style. The end of the 17th century is remarkable for a shift in taste that came to favour more academic and classical landscapes under the influence of Italianate landscape paintings. Landscapes were then often employed as settings for mythological or historical subjects. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | Franz de Paula Ferg (1689-1740) was trained as a landscape painter by his father, Adam Pankraz Ferg (1651-1729) and Josef Orient (1677-1747). He also studied staffage painting with Johann (Hans) Graf (1653-1710). In 1718 he left Vienna to Franconia, Bamberg and Leipzig and later travelled to Lower Saxony. In 1724, he settled in London where he died in misery. This painting is a fine example of Franz de Paula Ferg's series of capricci he executed shortly after his arrival in London around 1724. It shows a group of travellers in front of ruins surmounted on the left by a urn-shaped vase and a sphinx on the right in an idealised landscape. This is a typical example of his production that combines influences of the Dutch, Flemish and Italian schools, executed in a relatively dark palette. |
| Bibliographic reference | C.M. Kauffmann, Catalogue of Foreign Paintings, I. Before 1800, London, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1973, cat. no. 115 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | P.30-1917 |
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| Record created | July 6, 2006 |
| Record URL |
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