Abstract

The present paper aims to provide for the first time a comprehensive survey on the artistic activity of the painter Johann Friedrich Wentzel (1670-1729). Wentzel's experience is particularly important as he took part and fostered the cultural renewal of a geographical area - the Brandenburg - still marginal at the time and not familiar yet with great commissions. Although a number of historical, artistic and biographical aspects still need clarification, it can be ascertained that Wentzel played a major role in Seventeenth century German artistic culture. He gave a crucial contribution to the figurative language of the northern baroque art, as he actively mediated between different artistic trends: Netherlandish painting in Germany, court painting in central and north Germany, Venetian and Roman painting. His pictorial corpus as well as his intellectual biography deserve therefore closer attention.