Josef Lederer

This painter from Vienna worked in the service of the Schwarzenbergs from 1746 to 1749. In 1748 Josef Adam zu Schwarzenberk entrusted him with the decoration of a new Masquerade Hall with paintings. Josef Lederer painted this hall with figures from aristocratic society and enriched them with exotic figures of Negroes, Chinese, Turks or with figures of the then famous and loved Italian Comedie dell´Arte - thus the characters of Harlequin, Colombina and Pierot. The mural Josef Lederer painted in the Masquerade Hall of the Český Krumlov castle is the most significant work of rococo of South Bohemia, and was followed up by local painter František Jakub Prokyš.

(mj)