Auction House

Auction: Old Master Paintings

08. November 2022, 3:00 pm

Object overview
Object

0020

Johann Georg Bergmüller

(Türkheim 1688 - 1762 Augsburg)

„Heavenly and earthly Trinity“
1713
oil on canvas
149.5 x 97.5 cm
signed and dated on the lower right (partly illegible): IG (in ligature) Berckhmiller / Anno 1713

Provenance

Christie's New York, 31 May 1990, lot 13 (as attributed to Martino Altomonte);
collection Erna Weidinger (1923–2021)

A certificate by Dr. Josef Straßer, Munich, 4 September 2022, is enclosed.

Estimate: € 6.000 - 12.000
Result: € 13.440 (incl. fees)
Auction is closed.

"The vividly worked figures, the faces, the drapery, the colourfulness and the contrasts of light and dark clearly speak for Johann Georg Bergmüller (1688-1762) as the creator of this painting. Great stylistic, but also motivic similarities, for example in the child angels or putti heads, can be found in Bergmüller's high altarpiece dated 1712 in the parish church of St. Martin in Merching (see Alois Epple/Josef Straßer, Die Gemälde. Johann Georg Bergmüller 1688-1762. Lindenberg 2012, cat. G 10). Moreover, in the case of the 'Heavenly and Earthly Trinity', the comparably tightly packed composition also suggests that it must be from a similar period of origin and thus also an early work by Bergmüller" (cf. expert opinion Josef Straßer 2022). After working on the high altar decoration in Merching, Bergmüller moved to Augsburg in 1712/1713, where the depiction of the heavenly and earthly Trinity must have been created directly. As in the overall composition of the parish church, the levels in this painting are clearly structured: In the heavenly zone, God the Father points to the globe, while on the right the dove as the Holy Spirit hovers above the action. Below, Mary and Joseph emerge from the diffuse background and flank the boy Jesus, who tramples the serpent of original sin.