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Flowers

Johann Baptist Halszel

Basic information

ID: Ж-4928
Author: Johann Baptist Halszel
Name: Flowers
Date of creation: 18th c.
Technique: oil painting
Material: wood oil
Dimensions (height x width, cm): 79 x 65

Additionally

Type: painting
Genre: still life
Plot: Still life Vase
Provenance: the Dabski collection
Exposition: Potocki Palace

Information about author

Author: Johann Baptist Halszel
Artist's lifetime: 1710–1777
Country: Austria
Biography: Johann Baptist Halszel (1710–1777) was a German master of still-life painting. He was a student of Jean-Baptiste Dubuisson in Berlin, and from 1748, he lived and worked in Vienna. In 1767, the artist became a member of the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. Among the traditional elements in his still-life paintings were bouquets in vases on marble tables, vegetables, fruits, birds, animals, and bird nests in bushes. The master's work embodies the official art of eighteenth-century Austria. Halszel incorporated elements from the Dutch school and formal achievements of Italian Baroque painting. Created to decorate late Baroque interiors, Halszel's still lifes catered to the refined and bizarre tastes of the Austrian court. The main elements of Lviv's multilevel composition are placed in the foreground, parallel to the surface of the painting.

Object description

The painting depicts a bouquet in a vase on a table. The bouquet consists of white peonies, carnations, and lilies. The most valuable among the other flowers is an expensive red tulip at the top centre of the composition. The light gives equal significance to each flower, all painted with equal precision. The flowers are depicted with a slight overlap to allow for personal appreciation. Several smaller blossoms are concealed in dark foliage, which gives shape and depth to the bouquet, along with the dark background. The artists made drawings and preliminary sketches of each flower and placed them on the painting as they worked. These flowers do not bloom at the same time of year, as the design showcases the preference for exotic plants. The artwork was likely created to impress one of the burghers interested in the many exotic plants cultivated in botanical gardens.

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Flowers

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