(Laufen an der Salzach 1654–1730 Vienna)
Joseph and Potiphar’s wife,
monogrammed and dated lower left: MR (ligated) / 1695.,
oil on canvas, 96.5 x 134 cm, framed

Provenance:
possibly Collection of Joseph Leicher (1765–1838), Vienna, 1820s;
Private collection, Budapest, circa 1928;
sale, Nagyházi Gallery and Auction House, Budapest, 5 December 2006, lot 75;
where acquired by the present owner

Literature:
possibly F. H. Böck, Wiens Lebende Schriftsteller, Künstler, und Dilettanten im Kunstfache. Dann Bücher-Kunst-und Naturschätze und Andere Sehenswürdigkeiten Dieser haupt und Residenz-Stadt. Ein Handbuch für Einheimische und Fremde, Vienna 1822, p. 321;
possibly T. von Frimmel, Lexikon der Wiener Gemäldesammlungen. Geschichte der Wiener Gemäldesammlungen, Munich 1914, vol. II, p. 514, under J. Leicher;
A. Pigler, Barockthemen. Eine Auswahl von Verzeichnissen zur Ikonographie des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts, vol. I, Budapest/Berlin 1956, p. 81, illustrated p. 79

The present monogrammed and dated painting was created during the early period of the master’s career in Salzburg between 1687 and 1698. It was in these years that the works of the Italian Seicento artists are echoed in Rottmayr’s paintings, as seen in the present composition by its rich colour palette, the monumental archetypal forms, the contrasts accentuated by light effects, and the decorative draperies. As a pupil and assistant, Rottmayr trained with the Munich artist Johann Carl Loth in Venice between 1675 and 1687. For the composition of the present painting Rottmayr must have been familiar with a work by his master, depicting the same subject in a vertical composition which is conserved in the Joanneum in Graz (inv. no. 124).

Besides the work by Loth, the work offered here relates to two pairs of paintings by the artist, all depicting biblical, mythological, and historical female protagonists. The first pair is Rottmayr’s Lucretia and Tarquinius (signed and dated 1692) with Susanna and the Elders, both conserved in the Belvedere in Vienna (inv. nos. 3808 and 3798). The other pair of pendants depicts Sophonisba receiving the cup of Poison and Cleopatra and Marcus Antonius, both conserved in the National Gallery in Prague (inv. nos. 20 and 22). As all four mentioned works mirror each other’s diagonal compositions and are painted on horizontal canvases, it could very well be that the present work originally formed a pair with another work by Rottmayr, which remains unknown.

Rottmayr is known to have been an influential master of Baroque fresco and altarpiece painting in Central Europe, his self portrait is conserved in the Wien Museum in Vienna (inv. no. 12929). After his years in Italy the artist worked in Salzburg and Vienna where he was responsible for large scale painting commissions. He decorated newly built Baroque churches and palaces; including the frescos at the Liechtenstein Garden Palace, the Karlskirche in Vienna, and the Abbey Church of Melk, amongst others. In recognition of his outstanding artistic work, Emperor Leopold I raised Rottmayr to the rank of nobility by granting him the title Von Rosenbrunn in 1704.