Johannes Dünz (1645 - 1736)

Johannes Dünz

Johannes Dünz was a Swiss painter and representative of the Bernese Baroque.

Johannes Dünz studied in Bern under the painter Albrecht Kau (1616-1682). In the 1670s he was already painting portraits of noble townspeople and young representatives of the von Erlach and von Wattenville families in particular. He soon became the leading portraitist in these circles.

Dünz painted many portraits of Bernese patricians, leads and still lifes, as well as some remarkable group portraits. His work The Library Commission, in which both portraits and interior decoration are meticulously reproduced, is one of the most important group portraits of 17th-century Swiss painting. Johannes Dünz also possessed the skill to transform ordinary city vistas into spacious panoramic landscape paintings, paying particular attention to detail. And in his still lifes, he was sure to emphasize the four seasons, praising the labor of peasants and blessing the harvest.