(Urfahr 1813–1890 Vienna)
Window shopping on Schleifmühlgasse at the corner with Wienstrasse (today Rechte Wienzeile), signed Reiter, oil on canvas, 42 x 34 cm, framed, (Rei)

Provenance:
European Private Collection.

We are grateful to Dr Lothar Schultes for his scientific assistance.

Johann Baptist Reiter, born in Linz-Urfahr in 1813, attended Vienna’s Academy after training in his father’s carpentry business. There, he was strongly influenced by Leopold Kupelwieser, who also gave him a good deal of support and arranged commissions and scholarships for him. Over the course of the 1840s, Reiter’s realistic portraits and genre paintings saw him become increasingly successful, developing into a popular Biedermeier painter in Vienna. His sympathy for the revolution of 1848 did not detract from his fame, either. Reiter’s lively depictions of children and portraits of extraordinary women, including the writer and feminist Louise Aston, were especially appreciated. His models were not only the ladies of the Viennese bourgeoisie, but also his wife and his beloved daughter Alexandrine, known as Lexi. In the present lot they can be seen on Schleifmühlgasse, near Reiters last apartment on Wienzeile. Throughout his life, he remained true to his style of realism that used reduced colours. The death of his daughter Lexi in 1883 led Reiter to give up painting almost completely until his death in 1890.