Scene from the Prater

Today the Prater brings to mind the Giant Ferris Wheel and fairground stalls. In 1831 it was mostly meadow and old riverside woodland by the Danube, a former imperial hunting ground that Emperor Joseph II had opened to everyone in 1766. This small panel shows that rural side. Two great trunks rise from one base, one still in leaf, the other stripped and splintered at the top.

In the meadow behind, men are mowing with scythes. Closer to us a woman bends over a little barrel on a low cart, a man beside her holds his scythe, and another sits resting against the tree. The panel, only 31 centimetres high, is signed and dated at the middle of its bottom edge. It has been on long-term loan to the Belvedere from a private collection since 2017.