Vestal Virgin, 1870/71

Hans Makart (1840–1884) shows a female figure in a narrow vertical format standing on a pedestal and inclining towards a blazing offering box. A putto has settled down in front. Shortly before the execution of this work, Emperor Franz Joseph (1830–1916) had initiated Makart’s appointment to Vienna in 1869 at the suggestion of the chief of staff of the imperial and royal court, Prince Konstantin of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst (1828–1896). The 29-year-old artist was allocated a residence, along with the former studio of Anton Dominik von Fernkorn (1813–1878), and tasked with modernizing Viennese art. The painter received commissions for interior decorations by Count Hoyos and Baron Nikolaus Dumba (1830–1900), among others. Seeing as Makart only specialized in portrait and salon paintings after the stock market crash of 1873, the painting known as Vestal Virgin might have been created in the context of such a decoration commission. The oil painting Spring (c. 1870), which forms part of the collection of the Alte Pinakothek and shows an equally sketch-like execution, could be a companion piece, as it boasts similar measurements and a comparable composition.

Text Leopold Museum