Josef Bergler the younger

Salzburg 1753 - 1829 Prague

Male torso

Red and black chalk, 48,8 x 27 cm
Signed with initials and dated: J. B. den 22. November 1773

Bergler created this drawing before his Italian stay. Besides unbelievable strong plasticity it reflects strong vivid effects. All these elements the students had to learn during their study of drawing at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. Jakob Matthias Schmutzer (Vienna 1733 – 1811) mainly taught this method to create plasticity by grouping parallel hatches with red chalk at the engraver academy, which was founded by him in 1766. Schmutzer learned this technique during his stay in France at the studio of Pierre Alexandre Willens. In Austria the use of red chalk was till then unusual. The red colour of the chalk enforced the plasticity of the human bodies. Although the drawing is mainly designed by graphic elements (no washing or blurring) it shows a fluent movement by modelling the curves of the body with parallel hatches. Consciously an antagonism is visible: with graphic elements (sharp-edged lines are conform with engraving lines) a drawing got back a pictorial component by fluent lines. After his return from Italy, Bergler worked from 1786 to 1800 in Passau once again. Then he moved to Prague, where he was a teacher at the Academy.

price: 11.600 €