Franz Wiesenthal (Hungarian, 1856-1938) Trinity Court, Vienna Oil on canvas 30 x 28 inches (76.2 x 71.1 cm) Signed and inscribed by the artist's daughter Gertrud on label affixed to the reverse: Destitige hiermit, das gemälde von meinem verstor / benen Vater Franz Wiesenthal / gemalt ist. / Gertrud Wiesenthal / 1-/2. 44. [I hereby declare that my deceased father painted this painting February 1, 1944] PROVENANCE: Private collection, Abilene, Texas. The Dreifaltigkeitshof (Trinity Court) in Vienna was an important medieval estate and, through various transformations, became a center of city life for centuries (fig. 1). The estate was first recorded in 1204, named after the house chapel within its historic courtyard, located in what is now Vienna's Innere Stadt (1st District), near the Judengasse. By the second half of that century, the Dreifaltigkeitshof included a bakery, wine cellar and gardens. After a devastating fire, the estate was rebuilt and, in 1280, Konrad von Tulln (a wealthy financier who renounced worldly life to enter a monastery) gifted the property to the Dominican nuns of Tulln. By 1295, the estate was again sold to Heinrich von der Neiße, a future mayor of Vienna, followed by a line of patrician owners. The chapel was long an important part of the city's religious life, particularly among the bourgeoisie, but in 1782 Emperor Joseph II deconsecrated it, further leading to the complex's conversion into commercial buildings, including an expansion of the Zur Heiligen Dreifaltigkeit inn (which had been on the site since 1380), and private residences, Stadt ("City House") 496, 497, and 498, as shown in Franz Wiesenthal's lively painting. Open windows, many with houseplants displayed on sills, suggest those living inside and the warmth of the day; a bright shaft of sunlight reflects off the glass and spills across a group of girls passing through the courtyard. In the late nineteenth century, Vienna experienced a building boom (known as the Gründerzeit) and multi-family apartment buildings sprang up throughout the city. Ironically, this may have influenced the end of the homes of the Dreifaltigkeitshof. Its medieval structure was considered an obstruction to the new urban planning, and its residences were thought of as cramped and outdated. By 1910 the area was demolished to make way for new development, including a meat market and the extension of Fleischmarkt street (an expanded commercial and traffic artery), leaving Wiesenthal's painting a vibrant testament to ancient, yet ever changing, city life. HID12401132022 © 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved www.HA.com/TexasAuctioneerLicenseNotice