Norbert Grund / Johann Balzer

This exhibition catalogue presents the work of the Prague Rococo painter Norbert Grund. A specialist in small-scale canvases, Grund focused mainly on genre pieces and religious figural scenes set in both urban and rural landscapes. The exhibition also included copper engravings by Johann Balzer, whose landscapes, panoramas and religious works drew on models by renowned artists, including Norbert Grund himself; Balzer created copper engravings based on more than 200 of Grund’s paintings. These graphic prints were selected for the exhibition in order to complement the thematic breadth of Grund’s oeuvre. The catalogue contains almost 60 reproductions of paintings and graphic prints by both artists. The exhibition aimed not only to provide a comprehensive account of Grund’s career and the range of genres in which he specialized, but also to show how his work reflected the social changes that were affecting the burgeoning middle class at the time.