Lot 2123 Dα

With his thirst for zoological and geological knowledge and expeditions, Christian Anton Goering embodied a type of artist that emerged during the optimistic and progress-orientated 19th century; only to fade out again gradually in the disillusionment of the 20th century.
Born in 1836 in Schönhaide in the Thuringian Altenburger Land, Christian Anton Goering was encouraged in his scientific observations by his father, a passionate ornithologist. Following a period in which he worked as a taxidermist and conservator at the zoological museum of the University of Halle, he undertook his first research voyage in 1850, travelling through South America and visiting Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. Following his return to Europe, he began to pursue his artistic studies further in 1860 and was taught by Hermann Knaur (1811-1872) in Leipzig and by the famous animal illustrator Joseph Wolf (1820-1899) in London. This symbiosis between his scientific and artistic endeavours made him predestined - entirely in-keeping with the pioneering spirit of the 19th century - for a further research voyage to the tropics of South America, this time under the auspices of the Zoological Society of London. Following in the footsteps of his idol and role model Alexander von Humboldt, who was also held in high esteem in Latin America, Christian Anton Goering traversed the various landscapes of Venezuela, capturing them in travel reports, atmospheric drawings and watercolours that found a ready audience in Europe among the upper middle classes with their interest in exotic locales and striving for encyclopedic knowledge.
Christian Anton Goering moved to Leipzig in 1876 where, inspired by his travel experiences, he pursued a successful career as a landscape painter and illustrator. He rose to fame in his chosen home in Saxony before passing away in Leipzig in 1905 following a long illness.