VIENNA.- Scenes from mythology and history, alongside portrait and landscape paintings, seen through the eyes of Old Master painters and painters from the 19th century. Fine historical furniture, royal vases and splendid high-carat rings and jewels: art lovers will find that the upcoming Dorotheum auction week leaves nothing to be desired.

Between the 25th and 27th April 2017, the auction bell will keep ringing for works by Apollonio di Giovanni, Francesco Guardi, Guercino, Michele Marieschi, Jacopo Sellaio, Jusepe de Ribera, Pieter and Jan Brueghel, Oswald Achenbach and Tina Blau. A particular highlight from the auction of 19th century paintings will be a portrait of Sisi, Empress of Austria, by Carl Theodor von Piloty and Franz Adam, which was originally given as an engagement gift by the Emperor and which is of considerable historical interest.

Battle on the wedding chest: Apollonio di Giovanni at the Old Master paintings auction
The Battle of Pharsalos’ by Apollonio di Giovanni (1414 – 1465) will be coming up for auction on 25th April 2017 at the Old Master event. An exceptionally fine example of 15th century painting, it marries the achievements of Florentine monumental painting to a powerful narrative and emotional expression, which lends a special radiance to this perfectly executed panel painting.

Di Giovanni's painting originally formed the front side of an elaborately decorated chest (Cassone in Italian), a type of furniture that was very popular during the Renaissance. Such chests were used to store personal possessions, were often produced in pairs, and were decorated with painting and applied décor. The cassoni were traditionally part of a bride's dowry and indicated her social standing, wealth, and even family relationships in the case of a marriage among relatives. They were made across Northern and Central Italy – in particular in 14th to 16th century Tuscany – and were usually manufactured by workshops specialising in such chests, who produced them and related types of painting such as birthing trays and wall panels.

The artist responded to his patrons' strong interest in antiquity, and introduced a considerable number of new themes to Florentine art, which were gleaned both from classic and contemporary literature. His decorative paintings for chests often featured literary allegories, religious subjects, historical events, and in particular battle scenes of historical, mythological, or literary origin, and the chest now presented at Dorotheum fits this pattern perfectly.

The Alpha & Omega of landscape: Brothers Andreas and Oswald Achenbach at the auction of 19th century paintings
Based on the initials of their first names, the Düsseldorf painters Andreas and Oswald Achenbach also became known as the “A & O of Landscape" – the "beginning and the end" of landscape painting as it were. They are still considered to be the most important proponents of German landscape painting from the Romantic Period. The brothers were known all over Europe for their ability to render light in a manner that was both perfectly natural, as well as perfectly atmospheric and appropriate to the mood, be it in the sky, sea, or another type of natural setting.

Their success also extended to the USA, partly owing to their marketing acumen. The brothers divided the geographical regions to be painted among themselves (though the division was occasionally contested). Andreas specialised in Northern European lake and ocean landscapes, while Oswald, in keeping with the contemporary "longing for Italy", chased after the light and lifestyle of the South in his animated piazzas and idyllic bays. In Oswald's ‘View of the Piazzetta with the Biblioteca Marciana, Santa Maria della Salute, and the Dogana’, Dorotheum is happy to present a particularly splendid and rare example of a Venice-inspired painting. It measures nearly two metres in length and will be on sale at the auction on 27th April 2017 (€150,000 – 250,000).

Oswald's overcast ‘Bay of Naples’ shows Mt Vesuvius in the background (1874; €60,000 – 80,000), while the ‘Great tree in the evening light’ (€ 12,000 – 18,000) can be seen as a celebration of the forces of nature. Andreas, on the other hand, chose the popular theme of ‘Fishermen returning to port in a rough sea’, dating to 1871 (€12,000 – 16,000), which is now featured in Dorotheum’s auction.

Musical furniture and royal vase at the antiques auction
The 1826 pipe-clock writing desk by the Ansbach clockmaker and mechanicus Georg Friedrich Christoph Hausleiter, stands out for its fine, practically unaltered condition, the technical details of its musical mechanism, and the carved rosewood décor. Estimated at between €15,000 and 20,000 this Biedermeier Period treasure will be featured at the antiques auction on 26th April 2017.

Highlights of the glass and porcelain selection include a very rare, limited edition lidded Meissen vase, which was decorated with a portrait of Louis XV and designed by Johann Joachim Kändler one hundred years earlier, in 1740, as part of a set with two other lidded vases and two jugs. Commissioned by August III, the vase was intended as a precious present to Louis XV and was thus a gift of the kind that high-ranking individuals would give to one another to commemorate special occasions. For this reason, it bore his portrait, as well as the coats of arms of Bourbon and Navarre (€100,000 – 150,000).