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Sweden's artistic contacts with Austria in the first half of the 18th century constitute a neglected field in the Swedish history of art. Most historians dealing with this period have focused their interest upon the dominating influences from French art and culture. Without questioning the importance of this overwhelming French impact, the general ambition of this article is to point out the non-negligible role Austria played in forming Swedish art in the early 18th century. Although Sweden's general and political contact with Austria was limited at this time, important artistic influences were felt between the two countries. This article deals with these influences and presents a survey over Swedish artists, architects and patrons who visited Vienna during the first half of the 18th century. The article then focuses on two paintings by the Austrian artist Johann Georg Plazer (1704-61), which were brought to Sweden already in the 1730s. During the time of the Great Nordic War between Sweden and Russia in the first two decades of the 18th century, some prominent Swedish artists were active in Vienna for shorter or longer periods, for example portrait painters such as David Richter (1655-1724) and Charles Boit (1662-1727). Also Swedish medallists like Bengt Richter (1670-1737) and Daniel Warou (1673-1729) settled permanently in Vienna during this period. Of perhaps greater importance for Swedish development were the contacts established in the 1720s and 1730s. In 1727 the architect Carl Hârleman (170053) visited the city. Some results of the impressions he received from the Belvedere-palace in Vienna can be seen in details in his work at the Royal Palace in Stockholm. During the 1720s the Swedish born artist Martin Meytens (1695-1770) had established himself as a portrait painter at the imperial Austrian court. His return to Sweden 1730-3 1 resulted in a large number of portraits, which mediated a direct influence from the Vienna-style. These paintings came to play an important role in the development of Swedish portraiture. Highly significant for the Swedish-Austrian cultural contacts was also the well-known Swedish diplomat, patron and art collector Carl Gustaf-Tessin (1695-1770). He travelled on two different occasions as a Swedish envoy to the imperial court in Vienna. He first went there in 1725-26, but ofgreater importance was his second journey in 1735-36. During this stay in the imperial capital, Tessin not only saw the different royal and private art collections of the city. He also bought for himself a large number of paintings, prints and medallions, which were brought to Sweden. Beside his private interest in the arts, Tessin also carried an important official mission in searching for skillful artists and craftsmen for the new Swedish Royal Palace, which at the time was being erected in Stockholm. For this purpose Tessin engaged two Italian born painters in Vienna, Domenico Francia and Alessandro Feretti, who from 1736 came to work as decoration painters at the palace in Stockholm. Among the works of art thatTessin brought from Vienna to Stockholm in 1736 were two paintings by the Austrian artist Johann Georg Plazer. Since these paintings have scarcely been recognised in the literature, and since they constitute two concrete examples of how artistic influences from Vienna actually reached Sweden in the time of the early Rococo, this article focuses its main interest on them. Plazer was active in the Austrian capital during most of his life and is recognised as one of the most prominent predecessors of the Baroque-Rococo style in Vienna. In clear colours and vivid compositions he developed his own type of genre painting. The two pictures that were brought to Sweden byTessin are in many ways typical for the works of Plazer. These paintings depict Bacchanalian festivities in palace-like surroundings, which was one of the artists most commonly used motifs.… [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper illustrates how multivariate spectral analysis can be used to analyze complex, dynamic, business systems. Important temporal aspects of multiple time series are captured in the frequency domain by the coherence, phase, and gain statistics. A computer simulation of a time domain model produces sample results which demonstrate how the timing relations between two series can be reversed when the effects common to both series are partialled out. Finally, an empirical multivariate analysis of beef prices is used to determine the timing relations among prices at different levels of the production-distribution system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]