Johann August Ernst Niegelssohn
Two Views of Berlin in the Era of Frederick the Great.
Gouache over etching. 39.5 x 62.8 cm.
Signed and dated lower left: J.A.E. Niegelssohn pinx. 1787 (on a leaf).
In 1786, the Berlin publishing company Johann Morino & Compagnie produced an opulent album presenting twenty of Berlin's most beautiful views, etched by the painter and printmaker Johann Georg Rosenburg. The large, finely bound etchings document the royal aspirations of the grand residential city, and Berlin's development into a European capital. In the following year, the painter Johann August Ernst Niegelssohn coloured the entire series and added contemporary figural staffage. This transformed the pieces into vibrant and lively vedutas, documenting life in the city's most charming locales. The present gouaches show a view of Berlin Palace with the bridge and Andreas Schlüter's monument to the great Elector. This work is based on page I of Rosenberg's series, which was dedicated to the Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg. The second piece is based on page IX and shows a view of the Hackesher Markt looking towards the Marienkirche. This was dedicated to the Prussian statesman Baron Ewald Friedrich of Hertzberg.
Literature
J.G. Rosenberg and J.A.E. Niegelssohn, Berliner Gouachen. Lizenausgabe für die Nicolaische Verlagsbuchhandlung Berlin, 2009.