SwissArtGallery · Documented identity
Known as Christian Seybold, the artist is also listed under the names Johann Christian Seybold, Christian Seibold and Christian Seybald. His painting, associated with German Feinmalerei, focuses mainly on heads and busts. His detailed, realistic portraits are accompanied by character heads; most of his works are classified as tronies. The influence of Balthasar Denner is noted in relation to his character heads, while Jan Kupecký and Rembrandt are cited in connection with his self-portraits.
Among his earliest datable portraits is that of the imperial councillor Johann Adam von Questenberg, made after 1723 and before 1728. Two self-portraits held in public collections mark the subsequent course of his career: the one from 1747, painted in oil on copper, is in the Uffizi in Florence; the one from 1759, painted in oil on canvas, is listed at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg. A portrait of his daughter, dated 1761 and painted in oil on copper, is held at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
In 1749, Seybold was appointed court painter to Maria Theresa of Austria. The presence of his works at the Louvre, the Uffizi and the Hermitage attests to their dispersal among several major public collections. His work has been the subject of studies devoted to his portraits, self-portraits and tronies, notably in a thesis by Lilian Ruhe submitted at Radboud University in Nijmegen in 2018, and in an article published in 2020 in the Bulletin of the Hungarian Museum of Fine Arts.
This profile brings together identity references for Christian Seybold and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.
1 references are documented at Zofingen. Each record links to its source; the amounts are not a general valuation of the artist’s work.
Oil on canvas
Selbsportrait
Oel auf Leinwand
Catalogue period : 2025-11-29
Published result : 6500 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 1000
View the lot at the auction house ↗SwissArtGallery documentary note based on the cited sources. Titles, media and qualifications are provided in the profile language; the original catalogue wording remains available in each record.
Documentation updated : 2026-10-19
