Moritz Michael Daffinger

(1790 Vienna–1849 Vienna)
COSTUME STUDY FOR “THEKLA” FROM WALLENSTEIN
 
Figurine, watercolour on paper, height: 19 cm, width: 12 cm, signed, titled top right: “Thekla”, bottom left: “Costum...”, Passe-partout, framed
      
PROVENANCE

• Dorotheum, Vienna, 340th Art Auction, Paintings, Watercolours, Miniatures, Prints, Antiquities, Tapestries, May 7-9, 1923, lot 132, plate XII
• Dorotheum, Wien, Master Drawings, Prints before 1900, Watercolours and Miniatures, June 2, 2010, lot 0023
• European private property

Moritz Michael Daffinger had a great affinity for the performing arts. From the time of the Congress of Vienna until his final years to him the theatre remained the favourite starting point for social and artistic inspiration. It is safe to assume that his relationship with the famous actress Sophie Schröder, which lasted from ca. 1817 until 1823 and resulted in two children born out of wedlock, fostered the artist’s interest in the theatre world. [1]
 
An impressive number of art works testifies to Daffinger’s creative power, when portraying the various protagonists in the costume of their characters. His estate is a crucial source offering insights into his relationship with the theatre (Auction of the Estate of Moritz Michael Daffinger, C. J. Wawra, April 22/23, 1921). [2] It incorporated sheets with “figurines”, fleeting or accomplished studies the artist had made for costume-decoration purposes. They relate to the mise-en-scène and the cast of works by Grillparzer, The Magic Flute, William Tell and plays by Schiller. Figurines for the Burgtheater for Octavian Piccolomini and Buttler in Schiller’s trilogy Wallenstein are also part of the estate. In the trilogy Schiller dealt with the decline of the famous Commander Wallenstein, however, his is a liberal interpretation of the historical events.
 
The present sheet is also a costume study for Wallenstein, to be precise it is for the character of Thekla, Wallenstein’s daughter, who in Schiller’s play is bound to Piccolomini’s fictive son Max by a love-relationship. It can therefore be surmised that the present study has also been composed for the Burgtheater.
 
Daffinger’s exquisitely delicate drawing of the details – the face just as the robe hemmed with ermine –, and the subtle choice of colour in the representation of Thekla, where hues in pastel and gold are juxtaposed with a strong red, is most charming.
        
      
Moritz Michael Daffinger
 
January 25, 1790 Vienna–August 21, 1849 Vienna, was an Austrian miniature painter and sculptor.
Daffinger was a son of the porcelain painter Johann Leopold Daffinger (1748–1796) and his wife Katharina. At the age of eleven years old he became an apprentice at the k. u k. porcelain manufacture. He studied at the academy of fine arts, where Heinrich Friedrich Füger (1751–1818) was his tutor, and he devoted his studies to porcelain painting. From 1809 he focused exclusively on portraiture, especially miniatures on ivory. In 1827 he married Maria Theresia Smolenitz von Smolk (1808–1880).
Daffinger was greatly influenced by the English portraitist Thomas Lawrence (1769–1830), who, due to the Congress of Vienna, was in the imperial capital in 1815. The Parisian painter to the court Jean-Baptiste Isabey (1767–1855), also sojourned in Vienna during the congress, and also was a crucial factor in Daffinger’s development. Through his patrons Archduchess Sophie and Prince Metternich, he received commissions from the archducal house and the aristocracy for more than 200 watercolours. In addition the wealthy bourgeoisie of cultural importance was among his patrons (Rothschild, Arthaber, Geymüller et. al.). Following his daughter’s death in 1841, he focused largely on painting flowers. Daffinger died in 1849 from cholera, which had broken out in Vienna.
Moritz Michael Daffinger was of such importance as a portrait miniaturist, that he influenced all the Austrian miniaturists to follow. His oeuvre includes over 1000 portraits in this vein.