(1718–1801)
Madonna Immaculata, inscribed and dated Martin Joh. Schmid fec. 1764, brush and black ink, over pencil, on blue laid paper, 30 x 18,5 cm, mounted, framed, (Sch)

Provenance:
Private property, Austria.

The present drawing is related to an etching with the same motif. The print was executed after the altar painting by Kremser Schmidt in the parish church of Schwechat. Presumably the drawing was not preparatory for either one of the two works. The altar painting may have been prepared by a today unknown oil sketch, as is proven for two other paintings in Schwechat („Saint James the Elder“ and „Crucifixion“). Moreover, Kremer Schmidt’s preliminary drawings for etchings generally show another, more generous style; the painterly concept and the blue tinted paper cannot be found in the graphic work of the artist in the time of around 1760. The signature and the entire composition seem to have been taken over from the print and the dating 1764 may point to the original rather than to the date of the present drawing’s origin. For the etching see: Karl Garzarolli-Thurnlackh, Das Graphische Werk Martin Johann Schmidt’s, Zürich / Wien / Leipzig 1925, Cat. 14, p. 105.

We are grateful to Dr. Georg Lechner for the scientific support.