Joseph Anton Merz

Private collection, Southern Germany;

With Arnoldi-Livie, Munich;

From whom acquired by the late collector, 2011.

Joseph Anton Merz created this oil sketch—the only known work of this kind by the artist—as a preparatory study for the ceiling fresco depicting the salvation of souls in Purgatory, formerly located in the Benedictine Abbey Church of Oberalteich, in Straubing-Bogen. At the composition's bottom, five tormented souls writhe in the flames of Purgatory, their faces turned upward in a plea for forgiveness. At center, eight members of the Benedictine Order stand on a balustraded platform. One kneels, extending a Eucharistic wafer, while another pours wine from a gilded chalice. The allegorical figure of Ecclesia crowns the scene: she opens the Thesaurus Ecclesiae, a red bag symbolizing the Church's treasury, from which the needy receive aid.