{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O125720"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O125720/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BH7660/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BH7660/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BH7660","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KV7508","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KV7483","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O125720/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O125720","accessionNumber":"P.30-1917","objectType":"Oil painting","titles":[{"title":"Figures near a mausoleum","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Franz de Paula Ferg (1689-1740) was trained as a landscape painter by his father, Adam Pankraz Ferg (1651-1729) and Josef Orient (1677-1747). He also studied staffage painting with Johann (Hans) Graf (1653-1710). In 1718 he left Vienna to Franconia, Bamberg and Leipzig and later travelled to Lower Saxony. In 1724, he settled in London where he died in misery.\r\n\r\nThis painting is a fine example of Franz de Paula Ferg's series of <i>capricci</i> he executed shortly after his arrival in London around 1724. It shows a group of travellers in front of ruins surmounted on the left by a urn-shaped vase and a sphinx on the right in an idealised landscape. This is a typical example of his production that combines influences of the Dutch, Flemish and Italian schools, executed in a relatively dark palette.","physicalDescription":"Italianate landscape dominated by a large stone mausoleum topped by a sculpture of a sphinx.  Figures in rural Italian costume ride past on horses or pause and rest at the base.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Ferg, Franz de Paula","id":"A17827"},"association":{"text":"painter (artist)","id":"AAT25136"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"oil paint","id":"AAT15050"},{"text":"copper","id":"AAT11020"}],"techniques":[{"text":"oil painting","id":"AAT178684"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Oil on copper","categories":[{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"}],"styles":[{"text":"Austrian School","id":"x31257"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2006BH7660","2018KV7508","2018KV7483"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"B","id":"THES304873"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"oil paintings","id":"AAT33799"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":"probably"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1726-1740","earliest":"1726-01-01","latest":"1740-12-31"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Bequeathed by Henry Louis Florence","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"26.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"estimate","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"21","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"estimate","note":""},{"dimension":"","value":"","unit":"","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Measurement taken at time of assessment prior to BH decant - Frame Dimensions (mm): H-487 W-432 D-80;\nPainting Dimensions (mm): not measured"}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions taken from C.M. Kauffmann, <i>Catalogue of Foreign Paintings, I. Before 1800</i>,  London, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1973","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'F: Ferg'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Signed by the artist on stone in foreground"}],"objectHistory":"Bequeathed by Henry L. Florence, 1916\n\nHistorical significance: This painting is a typical example of early 18th-century compositions which combine landscape and genre and more specifically characteristic of Austrian painting influenced by Dutch, Flemish and Italian models. The colours are dark, and the staffage figures are in peculiarly wooden poses.\r\nIn 1726 he created a series of eight etched <i>Capricci</i> (preparatory sketches in Vienna, Albertina), which help to date many smaller pictures to the London period. \r\nComparable compositions include two other <i>capricci</i> in the Kunsthalle, Hamburg, albeit in brighter palette.","historicalContext":"Landscape paintings became extremely popular during the 17th century and increasingly encompassed a variety of forms and genres. Painters had a new attention for nature and their familiar surroundings and progressively did experiments with innovative techniques concentrating on the atmospheric effects and the sense of depth.  Dutch and Flemish landscapes were particularly praised and admired, influencing a large number of foreign artists who tent to imitate their style.  The end of the 17th century is remarkable for a shift in taste that came to favour more academic and classical landscapes under the influence of Italianate landscape paintings. Landscapes were then often employed as settings for mythological or historical subjects.","briefDescription":"Oil painting entitled 'Figures near a Mausoleum' by Franz de Paula Ferg.  Austrian school, 1726-1740.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"C.M. Kauffmann, <u>Catalogue of Foreign Paintings, I. Before 1800</u>, London, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1973, cat. no. 115"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"statue","id":"AAT47600"},{"text":"sphinx","id":"x30260"},{"text":"vase","id":"x31506"},{"text":"landscape","id":"x35496"},{"text":"figures","id":"x31098"}],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"landscape","id":"x35496"},{"text":"genre scene","id":"x45353"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["P.30-1917"],"accessionNumberNum":"30","accessionNumberPrefix":"P","accessionYear":1917,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-16","recordCreationDate":"2006-07-06","availableToBook":true}}