Monumental religious painting with holy family and St.John infant was executed 1821 by one of the best Viennese portrait , allegorical and miniature painters of the turn of 19th century Emile Bernhard de Guerard (1780 Duesseldorf - 1836 Naples). He studied first jurisprudence at the Duisburg University but soon turned to visual arts, especially to portrait miniatures. In 1793 he went to Vienna, where he was entrusted with commissions from Viennese court and aristocracy. In 1817-19 Guerard worked for the family of Prince Schwarzenberg. In his last years he was permanently on travels: in 1827 he lived in Venice, in 1831 exhibited in Rome and five years later lived in Naples, where he became victim of cholera, that was prevailing in the town.

Literature: Prof.H.Fuchs, Lexicon of Austrian artists, Vienna, 1975. Thieme/Becker "Lexicon of artists from antique to contemporary", Leipzig, 1999; "General artist lexicon(AKL)" by Saur.

Inscription: signed "Guerard 1821"

Technique: oil on canvas, original period frame

Measurements: Oval image w 56 1/8" x 74 3/4" (142,5 x 190 cm), framed w 64 1/4" x h 82 32/3" (163 x 210 cm)

Condition: in very good condition