Two pastoral scenes
Workshop of Cornel Suter the Elder and Cornel Suter the Younger, Beromünster (Switzerland), around 1780.
Glass panel painted on reverse in transparent pigments against black ground. Ebonised and bronze gilded softwood frame, H 29, W 39 cm.
Both reverse glass paintings reproduce mirrored versions of etchings by Johann Elias Ridinger (1698 - 1767) after designs by Johann Heinrich Roos (1631 - 1685).
The works were attributed to the painters Cornel Suter senior (1733 - 1818) and Cornel Suter junior (1757 - 1845) of Beromüster based on Staffelbach's publication. The collection of Dr. Edmund Müller in the Haus zum Dolder in Beromünster houses further reverse glass paintings by the two artists. To this date, no one has been able to convincingly attribute the works to either father or son, as both worked in the same style and both had the same first name. In general, religious works and the use of an ochre-toned palette are more commonly attributed to Cornel Suter senior. His son is usually associated more with secular subjects and is thought to have used more vibrant colours.
Provenance
Family of Cornel Suter-Portman, Lucerne.
Mong family collection, Augsburg.
Literature
Illus. in Staffelbach, Geschichte der Luzerner Hinterglasmalerei von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart, Lucerne 1951, pl. 136, no. 260, p. 95 f, 216, etc.
Illus. in Steiner, ... eine andere Art von Malerey. Hinterglasgemälde und ihre Vorlagen 1550 - 1850, Berlin-Munich 2012, p. 116 ff.
Illus. in Steiner, Landschaft in der Hinterglasmalerei des 18. Jahrhunderts, Berlin-Munich 2013, illus. 22 f.
Exhibitions
2012 Schaezlerpalais der Kunstsammlungen und Museen Augsburg.
2013 Oberammergau Museum.