Saint Luke Painting the Virgin

Georg Anton Urlaub, son of a Franconian artist family, became first a student of his father, Georg Sebastian Urlaub (1685 – 1763), and of Franz Ignaz Roth (died 1784). In 1757 he succeeded Roth as Kammerdiener and hochfürstlicher Kabinettsmaler. With the support of Prince-Bishop Friedrich Karl von Schönborn he journeyed to Vienna in 1737, where he continued his studies at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste. In 1744 Urlaub returned to Würzburg in the service of the prince-bishop but left that year for Italy. From 1747 to 1750 he worked in Venice in the studio of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696 – 1770) and followed the Italian artist to Würzburg in 1751. Whereas some scholars regard Urlaub as one of the main collaborators of Tiepolo for the fresco decorations in the prince-bishop’s residence, especially for the Kaisersaal (Imperial Hall), others view his role as more limited to craftsmanlike work.(1) Beyond his contributions to the residence, Urlaub was active as a fresco painter, primarily of churches in South Germany. Although his art shows Tiepolo’s influence in concept as well as in style, it also displays a distinctly personal character. The Wagner Collection in the Kunstgeschichtliches Museum of the University of Würzburg holds 599 of Urlaub’s drawings.(2) According to Knott, Saint Luke Painting the Virgin belongs with The Evangelist John Writing the Apocalypse, in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.(3) Both drawings were auctioned in Berlin in 1958.(4) They probably date from about 1750 – 60 and seem to reflect initial ideas for future compositions.

Catalogue entry from: Françoise Forster-Hahn. The Robert Lehman Collection. Decorative Arts, Vol. XV. Wolfram Koeppe, et al. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art in association with Princeton University Press, 2012, pp. 396-397.

NOTES:
1. See Freeden, Max H. von, and Carl Lamb. Das Meisterwerke des Giovanni Battista Tiepolo: Die Fresken der Würzburger Residenz. Munich, 1956, p. 101.
2. See Runge, Wilhelm. Georg Anton Urlaub: Ein fränkischer schüler Tiepolos (1713 – 1759). Munich, 1919; Georg Anton Urlaub: Ein fränkischer Maler im Banne Tiepolos. Exhibition, Mainfrankisches Museum Wurzburg, 24 April – 23 June 1996. Catalogue by Hans-Peter Trenschel et al. Wurzburg, 1996; Öhm, Ulrike. Die Würzburger “Tiepolo-Skizzenbücher”: Die Zeichnungsalben WS 134, 135 und 136 im Martin-von-Wagner-Museum der Universität Würzburg. Martin-von-Wagner-Museum, Graphische Sammlung, Bestandskataloge 2. Weimar, 2009. For a good survey of the older literature, see Runge, “Urlaub, Georg Anton.” In Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, edited by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker, vol. 33, pp. 595 – 96. Leipzig, 1939. An excellent discussion of Urlaub’s work and the critical compilation of more recent scholarship is in Knott, Nagia. Georg Anton Urlaub (1713 – 1759): Ein fränkischer Maler. Mainfrankische Studien 19. Wűrzburg, 1978.
3. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1984.3.70 (ex. coll. Julius S. Held; see Knott, p. 256, no. Z.264). See also Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century European Drawings. Exhibition, National Gallery of Art and nine other venues in the United States, August 1966 – July 1967. Organized by the American Federation of Arts. Catalogue. New York, 1966, no. 37; Loan Exhibition: Selections from the Drawing Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Julius S. Held. Exhibition, University Art Gallery, State University of New York at Binghamton, 5 – 28 January 1970, and six other venues in the United States during 1970. Catalogue. Binghamton, no. 102, ill.; Building a Collection. Exhibition, National Gallery of Art, 16 November 1997 – 19 April 1998. Catalogue by Andrew Robison. Washington, D.C., 1997, no. 101.
4. Sale, Gerd Rosen Auktionen, Berlin, 24 – 29 November 1958, part I, lot 569.

Sale, Gerd Rosen Auktionen, Berlin, 24-29 November 1958, part I, lot 569; [C. G. Boerner, Düsseldorf]; Paul Wallraf, London. Acquired by Robert Lehman from Wallraf in March 1963.