Zoom
Vienna, second quarter of the 19th century
- Case
- gilt bull’s eye frame
- Dial
- enamel dial ring
- Movement
- verge escapement, Viennese grande sonnerie on wire gongs, repeater, musical movement with two tunes and automatic release on the hour, numbered "No. 4 147" (probably by A. Olbrich, Vienna)
- Technique
- oil on metal
- Measurements
- 27½×37¼ in
Ferdinand Raimund’s play „The Spendthrift“, which premiered in Vienna Josefstadt in 1834, was one of the Austrian playwright’s greatest stage successes. The whole of Vienna was fascinated by the story of the rich Julius von Flottwell and the beggar.
The play was so popular that it even found its way into the fine arts and crafts as the subject of picture clock paintings. The scene allowed for a detailed depiction of a lavish interior, magnificent architecture with views of stately palace grounds and vast landscapes and a complex composition rich in figures with numerous visual axes.
The present oil painting on metal is probably one of the most high-quality artistic realizations of this pictorial theme in the genre of Viennese picture clocks. Josef Danhauser’s masterful painting „Der reiche Prasser“ (Belvedere Vienna, inv. no. 2087), which the famous Viennese artist created two years after the premiere of the Raimund play in 1836, served as a direct model. The painter of the picture clock followed the basic composition of the Danhauser painting, but also took liberties. The most obvious is certainly the inclusion of the wall clock, which is not to be found in Danhauser’s work. This artistic license was necessary in order to provide a suitable stage for the enamel chapter ring of the picture clock.
This wonderful synthesis of antique Viennese clockmaking and Biedermeier genre painting is completed acoustically and musically by the Viennese quarter strike and a musical movement with two melodies that sounds on the hour.