Lot 2300 Dα

Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein is of special significance within the eponymous North German family of painters. Known in art history as "Goethe Tischbein", his œuvre, apart from paintings and drawings, also includes a large number of illustrations and literary works. Tischbein began his artistic training with his uncle in Kassel, but soon moved to his brother's studio in Hamburg. After stations in Bremen (1771), Holland (1772/73) and Berlin (1777 - 1779) he travelled to Rome in the spring of 1781 with a scholarship awarded by the Kassel Academy, where he further developed his style in the direction of classicism. In 1786/87 he accompanied Johann Wolfgang Goethe on his trip to Rome and Naples. The portrait "Goethe in the Campagna" in the Frankfurt Städel Museum is the most famous testimony to this journey. Tischbein lived in Naples from 1787 to 1799, and for a time held the position of director of the Accademia delle Belle Arti. In the 1790s, Tischbein mainly created animal paintings, but his well-known engravings after Greek vases in the collection of the British envoy and antiquarian Sir William Hamilton were also made during this time. When French troops invaded Naples, Tischbein left the city and, after stations in Kassel and Göttingen, settled in Eutin in Holstein in 1808, where Peter I., Duke of Oldenburg appointed him court painter and gallery inspector.

The following works by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein come from the estate of Dr Jürgen Hach (1942-2019), theologian from Lübeck and descendant of the painter.

We would like to thank Dr Nicole Hartje-Grave and Prof Dr Hermann Mildenberger for their kind assistance in cataloguing these works.