RKD STUDIES

It is clear that Wrschowetz had been in close contact with the artists Johann Rudolf Bys (1660–1738) and Johann Adalbert Angermeyer (1674–1740). In the 1680s, Bys presumably studied in the Dutch Republic and visited Britain and Germany. From 1689 onwards, he was employed as a court painter and keeper of the picture gallery of Bohemian nobleman and diplomat Count Hermann Jakub Czernin von Chudenitz (1659–1710) in Prague.¹ Wrschowetz owned 16 paintings by Bys, of which six were flower still lifes, and 11 by Angermeyer, of which five were flower still lifes. An inscription by Bys on a painting commissioned by Wrschowetz indicates their close relationship [13].² The painting, representing a cartouche with floral garland surrounding a window with a seascape, was mentioned on the already mentioned list offered to Lothar Franz von Schönborn (1655–1729) around 1700 and reveals the existence of a pendant painting of a fruit still life with a vedute made by an artist listed as ‘Panner’, which according to Theodor von Frimmel 1853–1928) and art historian Hana Seifertová (born 1934) could be deciphered as the name of Flemish painter Jan Anton van der Baren (1616–1686), who was based in Brussels and later moved to Vienna, in the retinue of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm (1614–1662) .³ Until now, however, it was not known that the counterpart to Bys' painting can be identified with a Cartouche with a Garland of Fruit and a View of a Mountainous Landscape by van der Baren, now in Powis Castle, Wales [14].⁴ Bys closely followed Van der Baren's composition and mirrored the window with a view of a rocky landscape. Instead of fruit, he painted colourful flowers in shades of red and white, unlike Van der Baren's painting, where the grapes, corn and apples are yellow and green.

15
Roelant Savery
Bouquet in a glass vase with a lizard, a grasshopper, and a mouse on a woorden ledge, dated 1612
Vienna, private collection Liechtenstein - The Princely Collections, inv./cat.nr. GE789

The 1723 sale catalogue lists four flower still lifes that were hung together in pairs opposite each other: one by Roelant Savery from 1612 [15], one by Bys from 1702 [16] and two by Angermeyer, one from 1704 [17] and one that so far has not been identified. Savery's painting shows exuberant flowers such as irises, tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and roses. Both Bys and Angermeyer closely followed the overall composition of the flowers in a vase on a wooden ledge. Savery paid meticulously attention to every little detail. The flowers are symmetrically arranged and densely composed, and all of them grow in different seasons and therefore possibly symbolize the four seasons. While Savery painted a mouse, a lizard and insects next to his vase, Bys and Angermeyer placed a bird with insects in the same place. No doubt Wrschowetz had asked Bys and Angermeyer to mirror Savery's work, with which the four still lifes would reinforce the symmetry of the entire arrangement of paintings on the wall.

Wrschowetz owned several still lifes by J.G. Beitler (documented 1704–1712), but he only commissioned him once to paint a companion piece in 1712. It forms a pair with another flower piece by Savery [18-19]. Beitler’s work is composed in the same way as Savery’s bouquet, surrounded by small animals in a niche. In terms of color, however, it could not be more different. Perhaps the painting is no longer in its original state, but it is conceivable that Wrschowetz instructed the artist to create a counterpart in contrasting colours, following the concept of paragone. Interestingly, Beitler’ pendant is painted on copper, as is Savery’s painting.

In 1705, Angermeyer also painted a counterpart for a large kitchen still life by three collaborating Flemish painters: Nicolaes van Verendael (1640–1691), David Teniers II (1610-1690) and Carstian Luyckx (1623–1657). It is large painting with a flower bouquet and a hunting still life with dead birds on one side and a background view to a kitchen scene on the other [20-21]. Angermeyer painted an mirror-image composition of the older Flemish painting. Comparing the two, it is clear that Angermeyer painted with less refinement, especially in the Corinthian column and in the still life on the table. In contrast, the draperies and figures, painted in loose brushstrokes, are closer in style to his counterpart.

Another clear example of a mirrored composition for a counterpart is the only hunting piece Wrschowetz ordered from Bys; the painting ordered was intended as a counterpart to a hunting scene of a dead fox by the Flemish painter Franz de Hamilton (1640–1712) [22-23].⁵ Hunting paintings were highly prized by Bohemian art collectors, partly because of the status of hunting among the nobility, previously reserved only for royalty and later for the aristocracy. The genre was introduced to Bohemia by Dutch and Flemish 17th-century artists such as Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), Frans Snijders (1579–1657), Jan Weenix (1641–719) and Pauwel de Vos (1595–1678). Hamilton's hunting scene shows a fox and a hunting horn suspended against a back wall. Bys' counterpart has a mirror-image composition of a hare with a hunting horn. As with Angermeyer's kitchen still life, where the space in both paintings appears to be continuous, the two dead animals seem to hang in the same space.⁶