Lot 1601 Dα

In addition to his murals and ceiling paintings for castles and churches in the principality of Margrave Friedrich of Bayreuth, the Bayreuth court painter Wilhelm Ernst Wunder also created cabinet paintings. Wunder was in great demand as a painter of floral and hunting still lifes, as evidenced by a statement by J. G. Meusel in 1788, shortly after Wunder's death: "In his best days he had many orders from abroad and there is almost no country in Europe where his work did not go."
The artistic significance of this most important representative of the so-called Bayreuth Rococo can be seen in Wunder's still life with hare. The animal lies on a stone tabletop amidst various kinds of vegetables. Wunder's attention to detail is particularly evident in the meticulously rendered fur of the hare, whose magnificent orange-brown coat contrasts richly with the green of its surroundings. A ladybird, a wasp and a fly enliven the harmonious composition. At the same time, they are to be understood as a reference to transience. Wunder's still life draws directly on works by Dutch painters of the late 17th century, in particular Jan Weenix, who worked in Düsseldorf as court painter to the Elector of the Palatinate.