Josephus Augustus Knip Tilburg 1777 - 1847 Berlicum

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Description

Josephus Augustus Knip
the temple of minerva medica, rome
inscribed, in black lead, lower left: 10 Vensters, 9 niches, 1 deur / Van den eenen hoek tot den andere is 22 1/2 Voed / en den geheelen omtrek is 222 Voed, lower centre: 5 1/2 / , lower right: Temple de Minerva Medica
watercolour over black lead and black chalk
Inv.nr. N 348

Provenance

Sale, Amsterdam, Paul Brandt, 10-14 June 1974, lot 852;
With Lambert Tegenbosch, Wintelre/Heusden

Exhibited

Tilburg, La Barrique, J.A. Knip; Een neo-classicist uit Tilburg, 1975, cat. no. 40, reproduced fig. 22;
's-Hertogenbosch, Noordbrabants Museum, J.A. Knip 1777-1847, 1977, cat. no. 29, reproduced in colour on cover;
Vienna, Oberes Belvedere, and Munich, Neue Pinakothek, Auf der Suche nach dem goldenen Zeitalter; Niederländische Malerei in der Zeit der Romantik, 1986, cat. no. 24;
Haarlem, Frans Halsmuseum, Op zoek naar de Gouden Eeuw; Nederlandse schilderkunst, 1800-1850, 1986, cat. no. 26;
Amsterdam/Dordrecht 1994-5, cat. no. 63, reproduced in colour, p. 10;
The Hague 2001, cat. no. 65, reproduced in colour, p.16, fig. 10

Literature

Charles Dumas, 'De Unicorno-collectie / The Unicorno Collection,' in RKD Bulletin (1994), no. 2, reproduced on p.18

Catalogue Note

At the age of 23, Josephus Augustus Knip set off on foot for Paris, where he studied and worked for several years. On 1 January 1808, he was awarded the prestigious Prix de Rome, which committed him to a study programme consisting of two further years in Paris, followed by two in Rome. In fact, Knip went to Rome slightly earlier than planned, in November 1809, and remained there until September 1812.

By the standards of the day, Knip's stay of a little under three years in Rome was hardly a long one, and he never went back there after his return to the North, but during that time, he still managed to produce a substantial number of splendid, watercolours of Roman view and ruins. It is recorded that on his return to the Netherlands, Knip carried with him no fewer than 80 oil sketches and 490 other studies of French and Roman subjects. Many of these drawings and watercolours were, like the present example, rather large, and the Italian ones in particular are always highly atmospheric, making striking and distinctive use of the white of the paper to capture the strong Italian light. (See also lots 324-7, 333.)

The rather romantic ruin of the early 4th-century Temple of Minerva Medica was a particularly popular subject amongst the numerous artists who recorded Rome and her ruins in the late 18th and early 19th century.