Martin Van Meytens

2359 - MARTIN VAN MEYTENS D.Y. Österrike, hans krets, omkring 1740 Porträtt Olja på duk, 74 x 58 cm Circle of. Oil on canvas. EXPERTIS: Cabinet Turquin, Stéphane Pinta, Paris Estimate: SEK 20 000-30 000 (EUR 1 800-2 700) Contact our experts about this object Place an absentee bid on this object Bidding closes 2009-05-28 - 11:00 (CET)

MARTIN VAN MEYTENS (Swedish, 1695-1770) Portrait of Catherine the Great Oil on canvas 32-1/4 x 44-3/4 inches (81.9 x 113.7 cm) Faintly signed lower right in Cyrillic Estimate: $15,000 - $20,000. Condition Report*: Canvas has been cleaned, re-lined, and revarnished. Three repairs and scattered inpainting right edge of canvas, area of inpainting on Catherine's face, otherwise good condition. *Heritage Auction Galleries strongly encourages in-person inspection of items by the bidder. Statements by Heritage regarding the condition of objects are for guidance only and should not be relied upon as statements of fact, and do not constitute a representation, warranty, or assumption of liability by Heritage. All lots offered are sold "AS IS".

inscribed on the drawing middle right C. Durazz inv. inscribed in French upper right DESSEIN D'UNE PLACE POUR LES STATUES DE LL MM . oil on canvas CATALOGUE NOTE The present painting would appear to be a portrait of Count Giacomo Durazzo (1717-1794), the famous collector, diplomat and operatic director. Born into the noble Durazzo family of Genoa (his elder brother, in fact, became Doge), he was appointed as a trade envoy to Vienna. There he became close to Chancellor Kaunitz, Maria Theresa's most trusted advisor, and as a result received a number of important appointments from the Imperial court. Perhaps the most significant of these was his appointment in the spring of 1754 to the position of Generalspektakeldirektor which made him responsible for the running of the Burgtheater and the Kärntnerthortheater, and thus the leading producer of opera and theater in the city. In this position he used his influence to "modernize" the genres, bringing in French elements as well as pushing forward talent that he deemed worthy. In the latter capacity, he deserves particular esteem as the champion of the composer Glück and the playwright Goldoni, and also for organizing the young Mozart's premiere in the capital. Despite his significant achievements in the musical field, however, his position at court was insecure, it seems, because of rivalries and an indiscretion with a ballerina (calculated to annoy the Empress's extremely rigid sense of moral rectitude). However, through the offices of his friend and patron Kaunitz, he was retained in the Imperial service, but sent abroad, as the ambassador to Venice (1764). It was at this point that the second great cultural achievement of Durazzo's life was realized. Arriving in Venice, he began to amass a large and important collection of prints, acting as an agent for Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen, and also for his own collection. In an astoundingly short period of two years, he was able to acquire, systemize and catalogue some 30,000 prints. His canny eye also realized the quality and importance of early Italian painters, and as they could not be represented by prints in the collection, he commissioned engravings to be made after examples of their compositions. These were all handed over to the Duke in 1776 and were to form the nucleus of the Albertina. Despite his deep involvement with artistic life both in Vienna and Venice, few portraits of Durazzo were made. The present painting, in fact, appears to be related to two of these. The first is the important double-portrait of Count Giacomo Durazzo and his Wife, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. 50.50) by Marten van Meytens, the Younger. That painting depicts Durazzo in the guise of a hunter, seated with his wife in a landscape, beside the quarry of the day. He wears nearly the identical costume as in the present painting: a red jacket embroidered in gold along the lapels and on the sleeves; the same black solitaire (collar band), and his hair tied with the same black ribbon. The Metropolitan portrait is perhaps fuller of face than the present canvas, but the correspondence of the two is very strong. The other comparable portrait of the Count was undertaken by Jacob Schmutzer, the painter and engraver, who had assisted him in the prints collection. Schmutzer produced an engraved likeness of Durazzo in 1765 (see fig. 1) which he clearly derived from the Meytens portrait. The change of the sitter's attitude is obvious, and in fact relates more closely to the present canvas. Durazzo is shown in three-quarter pose, his left hand raised in gesture towards a bookcase in the background while his right hand rests on a portfolio (presumably of prints) before him. As far as the print makes it possible, it seems that the costume in the print is the same as that of the Meytens portrait and the present example; he wears a (red?) coat elaborately embroidered with the same solitaire. The print adds the classicizing note of a drape across his jacket. In the present portrait, Durazzo also points behind him, in this case to an architectural drawing (as yet undetermined) which the inscription on the plan suggests he himself designed. His right hand is somewhat upraised, again raised on a portrfolio of prints or drawings. These types of alterations appear to have been instigated by Durazzo himself, and related to his changing position.

Martin van Meytens II (Stockholm 1695-1770 Vienna) Portrait of Empress Maria Theresa von Habsburg, bust-length, in a silver embroidered blue dress and a red and gold wrap oil on canvas 61.3 x 46.1 cm. Provenance Dr. Georg Hirth, Munich; Helbing, Munich, 28 November 1916, lot 1084 (for DM 5300 to Schrott). In the Schrott family for over 70 years, from whom bought by the present owner.