The Apotheosis of St Charles Borromeo (Sketch for the left side-altar painting in the Collegiate Church, Salzburg)

This painting at the Residenzgalerie Salzburg is an oil sketch (modello) for the principal altarpiece in the east transept of the Kollegienkirche in Salzburg, built by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach (1656–1723) between 1696 and 1707. This altarpiece is one of the most important works from Rottmayr's later period. The modello is a smaller version of the six-meter high altarpiece and reproduces the elongation and distortion of the figures which create the perspective of the altarpiece itself. For the apotheosis of St. Charles Borromeo, the intercessor for people stricken with the plague, Rottmayr used the three-zone composition which he had introduced. In response to an outbreak of the plague epidemic in the city of Salzburg, processions are held and Holy Communion is administered following the example of St. Charles Borromeo. Rottmayr defined the location of the event by depicting recognisable features of the Salzburg landscape and architecture. Above this scene, the saint, supported by angels, hovers on a cloud bank. The red of his cardinal's robe is more earthy in tone than the red in the altarpiece and blends harmoniously with the overall tonality of the painting. Full of trust, Charles Borromeo turns to Christ, who appears in the sky, as Lord of All and leader of the heavenly hosts.

GROSCHNER Gabriele: Johann Michael Rottmayr, The Apotheosis of St. Charles Borromeo, in: GROSCHNER Gabriele, HABERSATTER Thomas, MAYR-OEHRING Erika (Ed.): Masterworks. Residenzgalerie Salzburg. Salzburg 2002, p. 106