03.05.23 02:51 PM

Franz Christoph Janneck was born in Graz in 1703. He trained under Matthias Vangus in his native city but by the 1730s had established himself in Vienna, studying at the Vienese Academy in 1740 and subsequently becoming an assesor to the Academy from 1752 until 1758. The artist's earliest known works date from the late 1720s and consist predominantly of village landscapes in the tradition of Jan Brueghel the Elder (see, for example, a pair of landscapes signed and dated 1729, sold London, Christie's, 11 July 2001, lot 51). He also painted a small number of religious scenes, many of which are dated and belong to the late 1730s and 1740s (see, for example, the artist's painting of Christ Feeding the Five Thousand, signed and dated 1739, sold in these rooms, 20 April 1994,

Although few of the artist's fête galantes (for which he is best known) are dated, the present work was almost certainly painted during the 1740s or 50s (compare, for example, a pair of paintings signed and dated 1752, representing Elegant Companies Feasting and Dancing in a Palace Interior, sold London, Sotheby's, 3 July 1991,). The tradition of the fête galante is strongly rooted in the French rococo, notably the work of Antoine Watteau, however Janneck's miniaturist technique and predilection for the use of copper as a support also reveals a clear debt to the work of the Leyden fijnschilders of the 17th and early 18th century. Along with the work of his companion Johann Georg Platzer, Janneck's fête galantes are among the finest examples of the Austrian Rococo.