Apollo Granting Phaeton Permission to Drive the Chariot of the Sun
Johann Michael Rottmayr·c. 1695
Historical Context
Johann Michael Rottmayr, the first significant Austrian Baroque ceiling painter, created this mythological scene of Apollo granting his son Phaeton permission to drive the sun chariot around 1695. Rottmayr trained in Venice under Johann Carl Loth and brought Italian Baroque grandeur to Austrian art, painting major ceiling frescoes in Salzburg, Melk, and Vienna. This canvas likely served as a modello or independent cabinet painting related to a decorative program.
Technical Analysis
Rottmayr's oil technique reflects his Venetian training, with warm, rich colors and dynamic diagonal composition propelling the figures upward. The dramatic foreshortening and luminous sky effects demonstrate his mastery of illusionistic ceiling painting conventions.
Provenance
Unknown Illinois banker; given by banker to Jacob S. Sherman, Chicago, during the 1930s as collateral for a loan that was never repaid [according to Robert Parker Sherman, son of Jacob S. Sherman, telephone conversation with Martha Wolff, 23 July 2003, transcribed in curatorial file]; bequeathed by Jacob S. Sherman (died 1961) to the Art Institute, 1961.
