One of the leading German artists of the Late Baroque* period, Franz Anton Maulbertsch worked throughout Central Europe during the second half of the 18th century. Born in Langenargen on the shores of Lake Constance, he was in Vienna by 1739, when he enrolled in the Vienna Akademie, and he was to live there for the remainder of his career. His first altarpieces are datable to 1748, and already in such early works as the illusionistic cupola fresco of The Assumption of the Virgin in the Piarist church of Maria Treu in Vienna, painted between 1752 and 1753, Maulbertsch’s distinctive style, bold colouring and confident manner are evident. (As one scholar has aptly noted of this fresco, ‘Maulbertsch creates fireworks in paint; the Virgin...