( ͡° ᴥ ͡°)

— if it’s fate, it’s a horrible one. cruel.

                      Chromatic Gallop (Johann-Georg de Hamilton)

“Johann Georg de - or ‘von’ as he came to be known - Hamilton was one of three painter sons of the artist James Hamilton. Originally from Scotland, by 1688 James Hamilton had settled his family in Brussels and established his reputation as a painter of still life. Like his two brothers – Philipp Ferdinand (c. 1664-1750), who became court painter to the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I, and Karl Wilhelm de Hamilton, called ‘Thistle-Hamilton’ (c. 1668-1754) – Johann Georg spent his career as a court painter in Central Europe. He moved to Vienna in 1689, and after time in Germany working for Prince Adam Franz Karl of Schwarzenburg, returned to Vienna in 1718. 

As well as completing commissions for the Princes of Liechtenstein, it was at this time that Johann Georg was appointed Court Painter to Joseph I’s successor Charles VI, to whom the inscription on the rock in the latter picture of this pair refers. It was largely in this capacity that Johann Georg gained the sobriquet ‘the Viennese Wootton’ as he was, above all, a painter of horses and hunting scenes. He focused his attention particularly on the Emperor’s famous Lippizaners, for which Charles VI commissioned the building of the Winter Riding School in 1729 – until that time the stallions were trained in a wooden arena in the Josefplatz.”

Sample Works:

1. The dark bay horse ‘Valido’ performing a Levade movement

2. The Piebald Stallion at the Eisgruber Stud

3. The Bay Stallion with spanish saddle

4. The Bay Stallion at the Eisgruber Stud

5. A black horse performing the Courbette

6. The black horse 'Curioso’ performing a Capriole

7. The Dapple Grey Galloping

ghost of the valley

Four dogs. Chandamama English. March 1972.