Catalogue Roberti Fine Art, TEFAF Maastricht 2026 (1) compressed - Flipbook - Page 76
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JOHANN KÖNIG
Nuremberg 1586 - 1642
Danaë and the shower of gold
signed and dated lower left under the jewellery: I . Konig . F / 1616
oil on copper
15 x 21 cm.
PROVENANCE
In the private collection of a French antiquarian, from the early to mid-20th century;
By inheritance to his granddaughter;
By whom sold at Chassaing-Marambat in Toulouse, 13 June 2013, lot 130 (as Flemish School),
where acquired by the previous owner.
This delightful, signed and dated copper by Johann König perfectly captures the artist’s skill in
working on a precious support and on such an intimate scale. Few pictures by the artist, indeed
from the period more generally, are as unashamedly sensual as the present work. Mythological
subjects painted on copper arguably constitute his very best work, which was heavily influenced by
his fellow German artist, the great Adam Elsheimer (1578-1610), whose work he would have
studied closely in Italy and whom he may have met personally before the latter’s death in
December 1610. In the treatment of landscapes, as seen here, as well as, for example, in the Saint
John the Baptist in a landscape, sold by Sotheby’s in London, 8 December 2004, lot 39 (fig. 1), König
shows to what extent he was informed by Elsheimer’s style, celebrating the detail of light and
foliage in a way rarely seen before.
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