Maulbertsch, Franz Anton

Maulbertsch, Franz Anton (or Franz Anton Maulpertsch) (b Langenargen, Lake Constance, 7 June 1724; d Vienna, 7 Aug. 1796). The greatest Austrian decorative painter of the 18th century. For most of his career he was based in Vienna, where he studied at the Academy and was early influenced by Paul Troger, but he was active (and extremely productive) over a wide area of central Europe; he is recorded working in almost 60 different places and most of his paintings (altarpieces as well as frescos) are still in the churches and secular buildings in Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia for which they were produced. His vivacious, colourful, and emotional style was almost completely resistant to Neoclassical influences, representing the last glorious flowering of the Baroque and Rococo tradition, although his final paintings understandably reveal signs of tiredness. Examples of his work that show him at the exhilarating height of his powers are the altar and ceiling frescos (1757–8) in the church at Sümeg, Hungary. His painterly dash is even more apparent in his oil sketches, which are well represented in the Barockmuseum, Vienna, and he was also an outstanding etcher.