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Restauratorin und Malerin Gräfin von Schlik zu Bassano

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"To be able to convey beauty is a gift of the gods called ART."
(Divina Countess Schlik)

Introduction into the world of painting of Divina Countess Schlik of Bassano and Weisskirchen.

As a specialist restorer of Wall-paintings in the 13th, 14th and 15th century and Paintings of the 16th,17th and 18th century, she is able to apply this konowledge and art of traditional manner to her paintings and so to re-create the colour and harmony of the old masters in detail.

If you get to know the artist Divina Countess Schlik and step into her picture world, you encounter Europe`s aristocratic past. That also means re-encountering beauty, taste and humanity.

Recreating paintings, which were painted centuries ago, is a similar experience and the artist who paints in the style of old masters goes the same way. Revival is her drive.

I know many motifs Countess Schlik has realised. In them I discover a longing for the aristocratic world which has long since disappeared because of the excesses of life. We still live in history, and if we choose so, we let history accompany us.

From her home in Munich, Countess Schlik stays in touch with the cultural happenings throughout Europe. Since she took up residence in England, her contacts to the island have become closer and she is about to accept a restoration project of an important wall painting in one of the main London cathedrals.

It is a special characteristic of her creative work that the artist also accepts contemporary portrait commissions. If the model permits and co-operates, Countess Schlik will alwys try to create a time-spanning portrait allowing artistic impulse to past epochs.

Countess Schlik has a special talent for still lives, where she is able to demonstrate her great technical knowledge she masters. Linke no other painter, she is able to produce an Archimboldo, whom no one is able to acquire - unless he tries breaking into the Museum of Art History in Vienna. Of course, posters as sold by many museums shops can never substitute for a painting. Depth and vibrancy of a painting can only be achiveved by painting. Whether the symbiosis of one`s own capability and another one`s model succeeds, depends on the re-creating artist, his or her taste, his or her capability and his or her whole personality. If he or she has a good "connection" to the Old Masters, he or she will be able to create brilliant paintings, which the buyer can enjoy without having to spend millions.

Recently I saw a flower painting (in the style of Ambrosius Bosschaert) and her panneaus (in the style of Jean-Baptiste Oudry) by Countess Schlik, both which I admire greatly. It is with pleasure and enjoyment that I observe how far the receptional abilities of a talented artist can go.

By Ludwig Meyer, Archives for Art History,
Munich, Germany (2003).