(Graz 1703–1761 Vienna)
Church Fair;
Rustic Dance Outside an Inn,
both signed and dated at lower left: F. C. Janneck Px. 1729,
oil on copper, each 27 x 33.5 cm, framed (2)

The two paintings are accompanied by an extensive certificate by Dr. Klaus Ertz.

Dr. Ertz writes of the present paintings: “In producing small-sized paintings on copper, Janneck harks back to a tradition of Flemish cabinet painting prevalent during the early 17th century, which due to its delicate manner of painting understandably met with great success in the cultivated society of 18th-century Austria. The themes of the two pendants described here illustrate the positive, carefree side of life: both paintings render lively and idyllic village scenes. Colourfully dressed groups of people are depicted conversing, negotiating with vendors, dancing, or simply witnessing the ongoing hustle and bustle. Such rustic village scenes had been a familiar subject in the visual arts since Pieter Brueghel the Elder and were obviously highly popular among the wealthy bourgeoisie and nobility, because their members did not actually appear in the paintings as protagonists, but were those who bought these works. If they do appear, their role is limited to that of accidental or marginal lookers-on: accordingly, one can well imagine that the gentleman on horseback in the foreground of Rustic Dance Outside an Inn or the gentleman mounted on a dun horse amidst the crowd in Church Fair belong to this noble and wealthy clientele. Scholars have frequently wondered what about these pictures would have appealed to these buyers so that they would have been interested in them, purchased them, and would have surrounded themselves with these works in their homes? It has been assumed that the townspeople took pleasure in laughing at impoverished country life, that they were amused at the peasants’ bawdiness and ignorance, and that their own superior lifestyle, with its sophisticated customs, culture, and elegance would be favourably set off against the peasants’ coarseness… Yet in 1729, when Janneck painted these refined pendants, nothing remained of such rural satire. These pictures seem to express an idealized yearning for the peasants’ simple life, so that they are entirely devoid of criticism, irony, and malice. There was no room then for the rough and primitive behaviour that can be observed in many pictures by such artists as Pieter Brueghel the Younger. These paintings contain nothing that would have offended the sensitive eye of the lady in whose drawing room they would most likely have been installed…” Dr. Ertz points out that the decorative value of such pendants mainly lies in their correlation. They form a union in terms of both subject and composition and therefore have to be hung in a certain order prescribed by the painter. In the present case, the composition requires that the Church Fair has to be mounted on the left side and its companion on the right.