Maulbertsch pinxit. Commissions of Franz Anton Maulbertsch in Moravia and Bohemia

At the height of his career, Maulbertsch accepted commissions from various parts of the Habsburg monarchy and beyond. His considerable workload therefore soon led him to establish an efficient studio, which over the course of four decades saw the succession of several prominent, otherwise independently active painters. Maulbertsch himself usually concentrated on mural painting, its compositional layout and figurative component. He often commissioned his colleagues to produce altarpieces, either covered by the running of the workshop or invited specifically for a particular commission. In both cases, these artists then executed the commissioned altarpieces in the so-called Maulbertsch manner, although they presented a personal, often visually different pictorial expression in their individual works. Maulbertsch’s role in these cases was limited to the preparation of an oil sketch, submitted to the commissioning artist for approval and then provided as a more or less binding basis to the painter to whom Maulbertsch entrusted the work on the painting.

The exhibition will therefore present in chronological order not only a selection of Maubertsch’s extensive works produced in Moravia and Bohemia, but also a closer look at the workshop itself. In particular, through the works of Maulbertsch’s Viennese colleague and peer Felix Ivo Leicher (1726-1812), who stood outside the workshop operation, and also the almost a generation younger Josef Winterhalder Jr. (1743-1807), Maulbertsch’s former pupil, follower and repeated collaborator, who was especially active in the early years of his career within the workshop operation. Echoes of Maulbertsch’s distinctive style are represented by several other works, often difficult to grasp in terms of authorship.