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50 000-60 000 SEK

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JACKOB PHILIPP HACKERT
Prenzlau 1737 - 1807 San Pietro di Careggi
Coupe de bois mise en feu en Suede pour y semer du seigle / nomée Swedie-land
Signerad och daterad J. Ph. Hackert. f. 1768
Gouache på pergament, 15.5 x 19,5 cm
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PROVENIENS
Beställning av Chevalier Jean-Louis-Antoine le Vaillant de Damery (1723-1803)
Privatsamling, Frankrike.
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PROVENANCE
Commissioned by Chevalier Jean-Louis-Antoine le Vaillant de Damery (1723-1803)
French private collection
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The second gouache is based on a drawing executed in Sweden which, as with the first of the Marieberg sketches, was destroyed in the Second World War without having been photographed.7 The description however makes clear that it showed the same place as one of the present gouaches. Both inscriptions inform the viewer that the fire raging in the middleground of the image is no calamity of nature but a fire caused by the farmers in order to create fertile conditions for the planting of rye. Actually the expression "Swedjeland" means woodland which is being cleared by cutting the trees and burning the ground vegetation.8 Although the composition is dramatic Hackert seldom ceded to an overly dramatic rendering of natural phenomena: his approach to nature was always the one of an observer who documented the visible world as thoroughly as possible, without giving a personal interpretation to the depicted sceneries. So it seems clear that the fire caught Hackert´s interest not for its dramatic aspects but for its function as a method used by farmers to cultivate the woodlands, and this is the reason for the extensive inscription on the drawing and gouache explaining the subject. The presence of the man and the calmly resting woman in the foreground tranquilizes the spectator as much as the small figures of other two men with dog who observe the fire from a hillock in the middleground: their behaviour makes clear that we are not in front of a natural catastrophe but a phenomenon under control. Although we have now gained information about the depicted sites of the gouaches, there still remains the question why Hackert in 1768 - after three years in Paris and already close to his departure for Italy - decided to use the Swedish sketches for two Gouache paintings, the very technique in which he usually executed images with generalized French landscapes. It can be presumed that this choice was due to the concrete order of a client who visited Hackert´s studio, saw among others the sketches from the artist´s trip to Sweden and was attracted by the subjects of the drawings, wishing paintings with exactly these images. Luckily, the name of this patron is known thanks to two engravings which were made after the gouaches by the French engraver Martin de Monchy (1746-after 1815).9 Hackert´s patron was the Parisian Chevalier Jean-Louis-Antoine le Vaillant de Damery (1723-1803), Knight of the Order of Saint-Louis, officer and, importantly, famous collector of paintings, drawings and prints. In 1757 de Damery decided to make his collections known to a larger public and began to commission engravings after his paintings by different artists, this enterprise was called the "Cabinet gravé" and resulted, as far as we know, in more than 100 engravings. Economical difficulties forced the Chevalier to sell parts of his collections in 1764 and 1782. Finally he also had to sell his castle and estate and move to the Hôtel Royal des Invalides in Paris, where he lived for more than 20 years until his death.

Auktionsnummer:

2207

Päivämäärä:

2016-06-08