Lot 2431 Dα

The present work once belonged to the extensive art collection of the German-Jewish advertisement and newspaper publisher Rudolf Mosse (1843-1920). After the founder's death, his son-in-law Hans Lachmann-Mosse (1885-1944) took over the publishing empire, which was forcibly converted into a foundation after the National Socialists came to power. The art collection was auctioned in 1934 at Rudolph Lepke's art auction house and at the Union auction house. The present painting by the Berlin artist Ernst Körner was restituted to the heirs of Rudolf Mosse in April 2023.
The vedute depicts the temple complex on the island of Philae south of Aswan, which includes a main temple dedicated to the goddess Isis and several smaller buildings. Trajan's Kiosk, which was first built by Emperor Augustus and later rebuilt by Emperor Trajan, rises up roughly in the centre of the work. It consists of 14 columns with bell-shaped papyrus capitals that support a surrounding architrave. In 1980, the entire temple complex was dismantled and rebuilt true to the original on the higher neighboring island of Agilkia due to the construction of the Aswan Dam. The German painter Ernst Koerner travelled to Egypt for the first time in 1873. His veduta, created in 1913, still shows the original location of the temples on the island of Philae.