Lot 101
  • 101

Jakob Philipp Hackert Prenzlau 1737 - 1807 Florence

Estimate
10,000 - 15,000 USD
Log in to view results
bidding is closed

Description

  • Jakob Philipp Hackert
  • landscape with women and children in the foreground of a elm-wood with vines growing as garlands between them
  • signed and dated: Philipp Hackert/Napel 1790

  • pen and brown ink and wash over black chalk

Provenance

From the Collection of a German Noble Family

Catalogue Note

Jacob Philipp Hackert became court painter to the King of Naples, Ferdinand IV, in 1786.  The terms of his contract allowed him three months a year for himself, so he could travel outside Naples and find inspiration for his paintings in other locations.  Claudia Nordhoff has suggested that this drawing was was probably made during an excursion to nearby Sorrento, in 1790.  

Hackert executed these detailed studies from life, using pencil and carefully delineating all the contours.  He later completed them in his studio, adding brown ink and wash, to suit the different requirements of his clients.  Claudia Nordhoff has pointed out in this respect an interesting observation by Goethe: 'Philipp Hackert fu forse l'unico artista in mia conoscenza che capì veramente cos'è importante per la vita di un'artista.  Egli non fece mai un tratto di matita sbagliato, i suoi schizzi di alberi, gruppi d'alberi, persino di rovi e cespugli erano sempre composti in modo tale che, a desiderio di un cliente, potevano essere rifiniti con colori a seppia, incorniciati e venduti per buoni soldi' (see Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Werke, vol. 48 (Schriften zur Kunst/Paralipomena), Weimar 1897, p. 251).  A similar bucolic view of a grape harvest, with vines hanging like garlands from tall trees, appears in an earlier painting by Hackert, representing autumn in a series of the four seasons, made for Ferdinand IV in 1784 (see Claudia Nordhoff and Hans Reimer, Jacob Philipp Hackert 1737-1807, Berlin 1994, vol. I, pl. 189, vol. II, no.379).