Lot 253: Johann Anwander (Landsberg/Lech c. 1715 - c.

Johann Anwander (Landsberg/Lech c. 1715 - c. 1770), attributed to The Love-Sick Antiochus (based on Plutarch, Parallel Lives XLII), oil on canvas, 97 x 123 cm, unframed, (AS) Provenance: aristocratic property, Lower Saxony This scene relates the story of the sick prince Antiochus. The physician Demetrios finds out that the cause for his illness is the prince's desperate and unfulfilled love to his stepmother Stratonice. In order to save his son, the generous father agrees to part with his wife so that Antiochus can marry her. Dr. Gode Krämer, Augsburg, who has inspected a photograph of the present picture, considers the attribution to the Rococo painter Anwander as plausible. He writes to the previous owner: "Judging from the drawings, I could imagine that your painting is by Anwander. As to the posture and costume, the female figure at the left also occurs in his drawings, and the faces resemble those in the frescoes...".