JOSEPH HEINTZ THE YOUNGER (1600-1678)

'The View Of Venice', oil on canvas, 62 x 97 cm

Joseph Heintz the Younger (Augsburg 1600-1678 Venice)

Joseph Heintz the younger was the son of the painter and etcher Joseph Heintz (Basle 1564-1609 Prague) and served his apprenticeship as a painter under his stepfather Matthäus Gundelach in Augsburg between 1617-21. In the later 1620s or early 1630s he painted the famous Christ in Limbo (sold Sotheby's, London, 6 July 1994. lot 4391) which can be related to the artist's own conversion to the Roman Catholic faith, without which he could not have established himself later in Venice. It is thought that Heintz spent time in Rome during the 1630s and early 1640s, finally settling in Venice where in circa 1644 Pope Urban VIII made him a Knight of the Golden Spur. He painted numerous religious works for Venetian churches, but his importance lies in the depiction of Venice's state ceremonies and festivities featuring large numbers of figures, and as such he was the precursor of Luca Carlevaris and Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto.

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