Lot 2338 D α

Jacob Philipp Hackert - In the ruins of the Colosseum

Auction 1254 - overview Cologne
16.11.2024, 14:30 - Old Masters & 19th Century, Part II
Estimate: 5.000 € - 6.000 €
Result: 16.380 € (incl. premium)

Jacob Philipp Hackert

In the ruins of the Colosseum

Pen and brush in brown over pencil. 34,2 x 45,2 cm.
Signed lower left: Ph: Hackert f. / inscribed top right: dans le colise à Rome 1775.

Hackert's study of the Colosseum began in the year of his arrival in Italy and continued until 1779, during which time he produced several drawings and paintings depicting this ancient building in its original state. Our sheet should be seen in conjunction with a drawing from the collection of the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne (inv. no. 1936/136), which is only slightly smaller, also bears the French inscription, albeit without the year, and shows a similar section of the Colosseum (Nordhoff op. cit. no. 1202). There is also a chronological and motivic connection to the painting ‘Ruinen in Rom’ from the Kiel Kunsthalle, dated 1775 (Nordhoff op. cit. no. 86). A small connecting detail also stands out: In the painting, the figure of a wanderer can already be recognised in the distance, who is sitting on a piece of rubble and leaning on his stick, looking at the imposing remains of the Roman past.

Provenance

Bassenge, Berlin, 5.6.1998, Lot 5566. - Acquired there and since then in a Rhenish private collection.

Literature

W. Krönig / R. Wegner: Jakob Philipp Hackert, der Landschaftsmaler der Goethezeit, 1994, nr. 133 (ill.).- C. Nordhoff / H. Reimer: Jakob Philipp Hackert 1737-1807. Verzeichnis seiner Werke, Berlin 1994 (for reference).