(1540-1599) A design for a wall decoration, c. 1600, pen and brown ink, grey wash, on laid paper, 20 x 19,5 cm, mounted, unframed, (Sch)

Provenance:
An unknown collector’s mark "QI" (prior to 1968), Lugt 4183: private collection, Germany.

Literature:
For comparable drawings by Sustris see: Susan Maxwell, The Court Art of Friedrich Sustris, Farnsworth, Ashgate, 2011, Fig. 1.5, p. 26; Thea Vignau-Wilberg, In Europa zu Hause - Niederländer in München um 1600, Munich, Hirmer, 2005, pp. 105-107.

The attribution to Friedrich Sustris was suggested by Prof. Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann in a written communication of 7th August 2017 on the basis of a digital photograph.

Friedrich Sustris was involved in large size projects for wall decorations and tapestry designs from his beginnings in the surrounding of Giorgio Vasari on. After his activities for the Fugger family in Augsburg Sustris moved to Bavaria where he took over several commisions from the Wittelsbacher dynasty. In their service he was in charge of large scale projects such as the decoration and the building of a part of Trausnitz castle in Landshut, the decoration of the residence of the Wittelsbacher and of Saint Michael’s in Munich. The present drawing may have been executed in preparation for an illusionistcally rendered wall decoration for one of the three projects. The sheet is particularly comparable with a design by Sustris which prepared a wall fountain and a grotto in the residence of the Fuggers in Augsburg (see: Maxwell 2011, Fig. 1.5, p. 26). The classicist architecture and the free translation of forms and washes make the sheet comparable with another drawing for Trausnitz castle in Landshut (see Vignau-Wilberg 2005, p. 105-107).