Johann Ludwig Ernst Morgenstern (1738 Rudolstadt - 1819 Frankfurt a. M.) Church interior with elegant rococo society Detailed and meticulously designed interior scene of a cathedral with rich columned architecture and ribbed vaulting. The picture is dominated by a monument in the form of an obelisk, staged with effective lighting, around which members of courtly society have gathered while others stroll through the nave. Painted with extremely fine brushwork and in a tonal colouring, this is a characteristic work by Morgenstern, who came from an important family of artists - his father Johann Christoph Morgenstern was a court painter in the service of the Princes of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. From 1766-1768, the artist attended the academy in Salzdahlum Castle under Ludwig Wilhelm Busch and, after brief periods in Hamburg and Darmstadt, settled permanently in Frankfurt am Main from 1772, where he specialised in meticulously painted cabinet pictures with church interiors and vedute. Oil/wood panel. L. u. monogr. (ligatured) and dat. 1789. 20 cm x 24 cm. Frame. Provenance: Dissolution of an important German private collection - Part II. Oil on wood panel. Monogrammed and dated 1789.