Joseph Franz Johann Pitschmann (1758-1834) Count Gaisruck extremely rare, 1800

  

We acquired this painting at Christie's Amsterdam (Sale "Property of the Collection of the Princely House of Liechtenstein, April 1st 2008, lot 455) as an "unsigned! Work of an anonymous artist of "German School of 18th century" (see our image). Had we not had this information, we would've been convinced that all three of them are from the end of 18th century - exactly as our portrait. Several days later, having received and seen the portrait with our own eyes, we were able to ascertain that the catalogue photo has not let us down: it was doubtlessly an Austrian work of particularly high quality (immediately evident, despite the 200-year-old dirt coating the painting). We were indeed astounded, when two days later learned from our restorer, that already during the initial cleaning process, the original, concealed by two centuries of dirt signature and a date of 1800!!

And it was not a signature of Fueger or Lampi, but of one of their mutual and best pupils, Viennese academician and, later, a famous Polish portraitist, Joseph Franz Johann Pitschmann (see our image with restorer's summary). Joseph Franz Johann (in Poland: Jozef Francziszek Jan) Pitschmann was born in 1758 in Triest and died in 1834 in Kremenets (Krzemieniec). He studied painting at the Vienna Academy of Arts under professors Fueger, Brandt and Lampi the Elder. In 1787, he obtained Golden Academic Medal followed, shortly after, by his full membership at the Academy.

In 1788 he was invited by Polish Prince J. Czartoryski to his estate Korc in Wolyn (in those days - Russian Empire), where he worked as portraitist for several months. In 1789, he traveled to the Polish capital Warsaw and remained there until 1794 (with an exception of a brief trip to Poznan). In this period, he painted a large number of portraits of the members of Polish aristocracy and royalty.

King Stanislaus August, whom Pitschmann portrayed four times, went as far as to present the artist with a diamond finger-ring. In 1794, the artist came to Lvov (present day Ukraine; at that time - Lemberg, capital of region Galicia that belonged from 1772 to the Austro-Hungarian Empire), where he remained until 1806. During his 12-year-long stay in this town he similarly produced a great number of portraits of Polish aristocracy and Austrian officials. In 1806, the School Inspector of Wolyn, Podolia and Ukraine (back then - parts of the Russian Empire), Tadeusz Czacki, invited Pitschmann to work as a professor of drawing at the newly founded Wolyn secondary school (later a Lyceum) in Krzemieniec.

The artist spent the last 28 years of his life working in this small Wolyn town. In 1831, in commemoration of his 25-year professorship at the Lyceum, he was awarded the honorary title of councellor.

From the onset of his artistic career Pitschmann kept a registry of his works (mainly portraits). This surviving list consists of more than 500 paintings. The whereabouts of most of them are unknown today: only several of Pitschmann's works belong to museum collections of Lvov (Lemberg), Warsaw, Krakow, Wroclaw, Poznan. Similarly, we could not locate a single work of his in the records of international art auctions of the past 30 years an aspect that makes our portrait an extremely rare find at today's art market!

But who is this elderly gentleman, the sitter of our portrait? The old authentic inscription "Countess Gaisruck" on stretcher (see our image) provides - as we are 100% certain - his name. In 1800, during Pitschmann's stay in Lemberg, there lived only one gentleman by such name, specifically, Johann Jakob (in Galicia - Jan) Count Gaisruck, the Austrian governor of Galicia (see our image).

Edward Rastawiecki in his dictionary of Polish artists "Slownik Malarzów Polskich", Warsaw 1857, Vol III (see our image) provides a nearly complete list of Putschmann's portrait works executed during the artist's Lvov (Lemberg) period, i. In this list, one finds two portraits of Count (in Polish "hrabia") Gaisruck: No. One of them, we are sure, is ours! On August 5th 1772, parts of Little Poland (Malopolska) and Red Rutheni (Rus Czerwona) were annexed by Austro-Hungarian Empire.

In September of the same year Austria created the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, designating town Lemberg (Lvov) as its capital. Until 1918, one of Austrian archdukes was always assigned to be the King of this kingdom. The next to kingly rank was that of a governor. In July 1795, the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria was assigned a new governor, Count Johann Jakob Gaisruck, transferred from his (former) post of the Austrian province Carniola (present day Slovenia).

The count served while living in Lemberg! In this new function until his death in February 1801, which means that our painting must have been one of Pitschmann's most important commissioned works ever. Our further additional image show several aforementioned Pitschmann's works housed by museums.

And, finally, an impudent supposition: an odd fact that out of Pitschmann's 500 works only few had survived could likely be explained by arguing that many of his unsigned portraits are attributed to other artists? For instance, to Johann Baptist Lampi the Elder, who, as we know, worked from August 1788 to autumn 1791 in Poland. Could these three abovementioned Lampi's works images nr.

14 and 15 be dated erroneously, and, in reality, be instead works of Pitschmann painted around 1800? Countess Gaisruck (either Gaisruck's widow, or one of his heiresses). Inventory of the Royal Castle Vaduz, Liechtenstein until 2007 3.

Aforementioned Christie's Sale of April 1st 2008, Amsterdam. Condition: good; unlined; in original! Measurements: UNFRAMED: 86.5 cm x 69.0 cm / 34.1" x 27.2" Inches FRAMED: 100.0 cm x 81.5 cm / 39.4" x 32.1" Inches. Object Type: Framed oil painting.

Technique: oil on canvas (painted in oval). Inscription: signed and dated: J. Creator: Joseph Franz Johann Pitschmann.

Creator Dates: 1758 Triest-1834 Kremenets. STORY VIW RUSSIAN PORTRAIT MINIATURES AUSTRIAN POLISH OLD RUSSIAN OLD UKRAINIAN WEST UKRAINIAN STATESMAN ARISTOCRAT MALE PORTRAIT NEOCLASSICAL GREATY.

Professional packaging and fully insured expedited service. This item is in the category "Art\Paintings".

The seller is "boris_wilnitsky_fine_arts" and is located in this country: AT. This item can be shipped worldwide.

• Unit of Sale: Single Piece
• Artist: Joseph Franz Johann Pitschmann
• Signed By: Joseph Franz Johann Pitschmann
• Size: Medium
• Signed: Yes
• Material: Canvas
• Item Length: 32.1 in
• Region of Origin: Europe
• Framing: Framed
• Subject: Portrait, Royalty, Man, Austria, Poland
• Size Type/Largest Dimension: UNFRAMED:86,5x69,0cm/34,1x27,2in FRAMED: 100,0x81,5cm/39,4x32,1in
• Type: Painting
• Listed By: BORIS WILNITSKY FINE ARTS
• Year of Production: 1800
• Original/Licensed Reproduction: Original
• Item Height: 39.4 in
• Style: Portraiture, Old Master paintings
• Production Technique: Oil Painting
• Handmade: Yes
• Time Period Produced: 1800-1849