(Munich 1652-1716) The Annunciation to Mary, pen and black ink, on bluish grey laid paper, 26,5 x 18,5 cm, mounted, unframed, (Sch)

Provenance:
Private collection, Germany.

Literature:
Achim Riether, Johann Andreas Wolff, Zeichenkunst in München um 1700, Munich 2016, No 4, pp. 56 f.

The present drawing was preparatory for the altar painting „Annunciation to the Virgin“ (1678) by Johann Andreas Wolff, which was commissioned by the Marian congregation in Munich-Sendling for the altar of St.Stephen in its church. The painting is kept today in the Diocesan Museum in Freising. The Staatliche Graphische Sammlung in Munich preserves a second and almost identical version. The Munich sheet is of the same size but better elaborated in certain details of the wash. The present drawing is possibly a working copy or a second version; a working copy may have been intended for the patron, the second version may have been preliminary to the execution of the painting and kept in the studio. Achim Riether from the Staatliche Graphische Sammlung in Munich agrees that the painting of 1678 was executed at the same time as the present drawing. It is interesting that the sheet shows a handwritten note of the sheet’s price (3 fl.). Such pricing can frequently be found on old drawings when they were sold from workshop stock. The stains due to ageing may derive from its former existence in a workshop.