Small Town with a Church

The signed pendant paintings of Franz de Paul Ferg capture the bustling trade on the embankment of a river on one side and the relaxation and merriment with dancing figures on the other. The Landscape with Dancing Peasants, now in the holdings of the National Gallery Prague, shows the river delta with a departing boat full of people. The river banks are crowded with peasants, interspersed with horsemen. The pendant painting Small Town with a Church offers a view of a town on a river bank. In this genre of painting, Ferg was inspired by the work of his mentor Hans Graf through which he acquainted himself with the tradition of multi-figure scenes of marketplaces and village festivities. In all likelihood, the pair of paintings was made prior to Ferg’s departure to England (before ca. 1720), when he increasingly painted compositions with peopled scenes of ports, markets and villages. This is supported by the way the paintings are signed.