(Purbach 1677–1747 Vienna)
A mountain landscape with peasant carts on a path; and
A forest landscape with a fallen mule,
the latter signed lower left: Josephüs Vrienntt. f.,
oil on copper, each 30.6 x 45.4 cm, framed, a pair (2)

Provenance:
sale, Christie’s, London, 16 December 1998, lot 140

Literature:
U. de Goede-Broug, De Hongaars-Oostenrijkse landschaftsschilder Josef Orient (1677–1747) Meer dan slechts een epigoon van Saftleven en Griffie een eerste verkenning, in: Liber Amicorum Marijke de Kinkelder, The Hague 2013, pp. 171–72, no. 42743

The present pair of paintings are listed respectively in the RKD database under nos. 11942 and 11943 (as Josef Orient).

The two landscapes, with verdant rolling countryside and carefully rendered foreground figures, are characteristic of the hand of Joseph Orient (born Urindt), and are likely based on views recorded by him in his native Burgenland and in Hungary. The signature on the lower left corner appears in the pseudo latinised form of the artist Josef Urindt’s name, and reads ‘Josephüs Vrienntt. f.’.

The compositional scheme, and the use of light and texture are redolent of the manner of Dutch painting, particularly the works of Herman Saftleven (1609–1685) which was widely mimicked in the German-speaking world at the end of the 17th and start of the 18th centuries.

A pupil of Anton Wilhelm Faistenberger (1663–1708), Orient likely assisted his master on his large, dramatic canvases, many of which are in public collections, before developing his own style, as seen in the present lustrous pair of pictures. Orient was later appointed director of the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts.