Lot 53: Melchior Steidl (Innsbruck 1657-1727 Munich)

The Assumption of the Virgin
black and red chalk, pen and brown ink, grey wash
12 3/8 x 13 3/8 in. (314 x 340 mm.)

This drawing was most probably made in preparation for the fresco in the west choir of the Church of the Assumption, Regensburg, executed in circa 1704 (V. Meinecke, Die Fresken des Melchior Steidl, Munich, 1971, p. 136, no. 7). Notable similarities between the drawing and the fresco are the figures of the Apostles over the empty coffin, the figures behind it and the two palm trees. The Church, which was the minster for an order of canonesses, founded in circa 780 by Duke Tassilo III of Bavaria, was destroyed during the Second World War.
A drawing of The Prophecy of Simeon is in the Tiroler Landesmuseum, Innsbruck (J. Straßer, Melchior Steidl (1657-1727) Die Zeichnungen, exhib. cat., Salzburger Barockmuseum, 1999, no. 29).