Lot 1201 Dα

Born in North Bohemia, Josef Führich first studied under his father before attending the School of Art, Prague, in 1819. After having obtained a scholarship in Rome Führich lived in the Eternal City from 1827 to 1829 and it is here that he joined the Nazarines. Along with Overbeck, Koch and Schnorr von Carolsfeld, Führich worked on the frescoes of the Casino Massimo. From 1829 the artist was again living in his native Bohemia before moving, in 1834, to Vienna where he was appointed curator of the Academy Gallery and later, in 1940, professor of historical composition. In 1861 Führich was knighted and in 1875 appointed as an honorary citizen of Vienna where he died in 1876.
The oeuvre of Josef von Führichs includes almost exclusively religious subjects; predominantly altarpieces and depictions of Old and New Testament scenes. One of his most important works is the series of frescoes he painted inside the Lerchenfeld church of Vienna. In addition are the more romantic-religious images which he created, such as this large-scale work of a little girl with her guardian angel, painted in 1827, most likely before he relocated to Rome. The motif of the guardian angel was used by Führich in the previous year for a smaller work on copper which formed part of a larger cycle dedicated to Geneviève de Brabant, to whom Führichs also owed his scholarship in Rome. In the later work, all connotations of the legend have been removed and the painting instead focuses solely on the monumental scene of the girl with her guardian angel; brilliantly painted and in a fine polychrome palette.
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