Lot 1014 Dα

Compared to his Augsburg contemporaries Hans Rottenhammer, Johann König and Mathias Kager, the work of Anton Mozart is still largely unknown today. Yet Mozart was a celebrated artist during his lifetime. He was praised by Philipp Hainhofer as an "outstanding landscape painter" (Rudelius-Kamholz). Hainhofer himself was not only a famous cabinetmaker, but also a successful art agent who brokered works by Mozart to the Duke of Pomerania-Stettin and Maximilian I of Bavaria, among others.

Mozart was primarily active as a landscape painter. His painting was characterised by Flemish influences, above all Pieter and Jan Brueghel the Younger and Lucas van Valckenborch, but Mozart processed these influences in his own, thoroughly personal way and revealed himself to be an original and talented artist. Due to his somewhat more detailed compositions compared to the Flemings and the unconventional perspective, his works are easily recognisable from other painters of his time - even in this painting with its complex composition. He uses vivid colours to distinguish between foreground and background, while the winding river with the figures on a raft draws the viewer's gaze into the distance.