Homage to a Tutelary Goddess (further interpretation: Allegory of Empress Elisabeth Christine as Astraea)

Johann Michael Rottmayr (1654 - 1730)

Title:Homage to a Tutelary Goddess (further interpretation: Allegory of Empress Elisabeth Christine as Astraea)

Artist:

Johann Michael Rottmayr (1654 - 1730)

Dating:

c 1714

Object type: Paintings

Material/Technique:

Oil/canvas

Dimensions:

Picture size 90.50 x 58.50 cm
Framesize 112.00 x 83.00 x 7.00 cm

Inventory number:

596

Location:

Currently not in the exhibition

Style:

Austrian Baroque

Description:

Damage to the surface paint increases the difficulty of interpreting Rottmayr’s oil sketch. Is that a tutelary goddess seated above, before a mural crown? Could this be a homage to the Empress Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel? Or do we accept Ulrich Nefzger’s view that the sketch is connected with Rottmayr’s own life? He spent 13 years working in Venice, so the wall coping and sceptre could represent Venezia, ruler over the terra ferma and over the sea, represented by Neptune, Triton and water god.

DUCKE Astrid: Johann Michael Rottmayr, Homage to a Tutelary Goddess (further interpretation: Allegory of Empress Elisabeth Christine as Astraea), object description for the exhibition "Masterworks. Residenzgalerie Salzburg" (23.2.-3.7.2022)