Lot 384: Johann Heinrich Wüst (Zurich 1741 - 1821) River

Johann Heinrich Wüst (Zurich 1741 - 1821) River landscape with figural staffage and sheep, oil on panel, 55.5 x 71.5 cm, original gilded frame, (Wo) Johann Heinrich Wüst is distinguished from other contemporary landscape and veduta painters in Switzerland by his subtly composed landscapes that reveal his familiarity with the styles of Ruisdael and Hobbema. What is characteristic about his work is the translation of a topographically specific and appealing point de vue into the taste of the Rococo, which he practiced in order to comply with the wishes of his Parisian patrons. A cool elegance and delicate, subdued colours imitating the brown tones of Netherlandish art, as well as the sensitive treatment of light, create the impression of an ingeniously composed landscape veduta (Keller, p. 82). The combination of Netherlandish tradition and French taste during the final period of the Ancien Régime resulted in the Swiss painter's most charming landscapes. He is also known to have studied the figures of Lancret and Watteau, who also seem to have inspired the figural staffage of the present work. His later works, including the present composition, already anticipate early Neo-Classicism. His compositions borrow from the Italian landscapes of Hubert Robert and Fragonard, which Wüst studied during his sojourn in Paris between 1766 and 1769 (Keller, p. 81). Literature: comp. Heinz Keller, "Johann Heinrich Wüst 1741 - 1821 - Der Wasserfall bei Erlenbach", in: Michael Stettler (ed.), Bericht über die Tätigkeit der Eidgenössischen Kommission der Gottfried Keller Stiftung 1958 und 1959, Winterthur 1959, pp. 81-82. Pendant to following lot