JOHANN AMANDUS WINCK (WINK)
(1748 Rottenburg near Neckar - 1817 Munich)
A PAIR OF STILL LIFES WITH FRUIT, INSECTS AND SNAILS
Munich, dated 1797, signed lower left
Oil on copper
Height: 23.5 cm, width: 20.5 cm
Literature: Horst Ludwig (ed.): Münchner Maler im 19. Jahrhundert, Bruckmanns Lexikon der Münchner Kunst, Vol. 4, München 1983, p. 390-392, compare with No. 580
Provenance: private collection Southern Germany
Johann Amandus Winck (also Wink) was a southern German painter of the Flemish school. Born as the son of the Eichstätt court painter Johann Chrysostomus Winck, he later worked primarily in Munich for the electoral Bavarian court. Winck's lavishly arranged and precisely executed flower and fruit still lifes are of great importance in 18th century German still life painting and were represented in all the major picture galleries of the time. He often produced two still lifes as counterparts - as in the composition shown here of a light and a dark bunch of grapes in a mirrored arrangement. Southern fruits such as peaches and lemon are complemented by local fruits like strawberries, cherries and gooseberries as well as bees and snails and fascinate with their brilliant colours against a dark background.
