Andreas Lach (Eisgrub/Lednice, 1817 – Vienna, 1882) was a student at the
Vienna Academy of Fine Arts between 1837 and 1839. He studied under Thomas
Ender (1793–1875) and Joseph Mössmer (1780–1845), who both taught landscape
painting, and Sebastian Wegmayr (1776–1857), a professor specializing in floral
still lifes. When the twenty-year-old Andreas Lach came to Vienna, the city’s
floral painting was in full bloom. Biedermeier floral still lifes of the Vienna
School were a European phenomenon of their time and marked the revival of the
Golden Age of Dutch painting and of influential 17th- and 18th-century
masters. The floral genre owes its re-emergence to joint venture between the class
on floral painting at the Academy of Fine Arts and the Vienna Porcelain
Manufactory.
Floral painting played a very different role in the two halves of the 19thcentury. In the first half, its significance was so great it was equal to the
term Biedermeier. Biedermeier floral painting was created out of love of nature
among all strata of society, including the imperial family, and, of course,
encompassed both native and exotic flowers. The Enlightenment showed intense
interest in foreign lands, their inhabitants, flora and fauna. This greatly
influenced botany and the flourishing of botanical illustration around 1800. Important
contributions were made by botanist Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin (1727–1817),
who was summoned to Vienna from the Netherlands. This was a time of botanical
and private gardens kept by wealthy plant lovers and of greenhouses where
fashionable exotic flowers grew. Members of the imperial family, aristocracy
and the bourgeoisie became devoted amateur botanists. The refuge of countless
private gardens on the outskirts of Vienna was greatly prized, influencing the
general spirit and fashion. People purchased botanical publications, floral
still lifes and other objects, such as the exquisite products of the Vienna
Porcelain Manufactory.
This leads us to a remarkable painter, Johann Baptist Drechsler
(1756–1811), who in 1787 became the director of the drawing school and the
Imperial-Royal Porcelain Manufactory. Drechsler was inspired by Old Masters,
especially Jan van Huysum (1682–1749) and Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750). His art
showed a masterful interpretation, not just in the imitation of floral motifs,
but especially in the use of colour and lights in the spirit of the new
realism.
In 1807, J. B. Drechsler established a class on floral still lifes at
the Academy of Fine Arts. The professor joined the porcelain manufactory and
the Academy in a successful venture. The motif, now independent, immediately
influenced the stylistic development of floral still lifes. At this stage, the
scientific study of plants and the naturalistic depiction of flowers began to
overlap, both at the Academy and at the Manufactory. Events of 1848 changed
everything and in the second half of the century the public interest shifted to
other art forms, styles and motifs. The subject was withdrawn from the Academy
curriculum in 1850.
Andreas Lach, who lived and worked in mid-century Vienna, did very well
in these turbulent times. His painting teacher passed onto him modified and
rejuvenated motifs that drew inspiration from the past and quickly became part
of modern trends. In the capital, Lach diligently exhibited his still lifes,
which the critics saw as realistic, fresh and innovative. Lach liked to place
his floral motifs on mountain ridges and above dangerous overhangs in the
Alpine landscape; after 1850, he specialized in still lifes on forest floor,
where he placed bouquets of solely garden flowers.