Originalveröffentlichung in: Mattusch, Carol C. (Hrsg.): Rediscovering the ancient world on the Bay of , 1710 - 1890 [Kongressband], Washington 2013, S. 123-140 (Studies in the history of art ; 79)

STEFFI ROETTGEN

German Painters in Naples and Their Contribution to the Revival of Antiquity, iy6o-iy99

n the second half of the eighteenth cen­ lain cabinets in the royal residences, followed tury, a number of painters of note from by commissions to Anton Raphael Mengs, IGerman­speaking countries found the Saxon court painter then living in , employment in Naples for a variety of rea­ for portraits of the royal family and an altar­ sons. The political prerequisites included the piece for the chapel in the royal palace at conquest of the city by Charles of Bourbon, .' During the negotiations to bring a son of Isabella Farnese and King Philip v Mengs to Naples, which dragged on from of Spain. In 1734 the Spanish prince had 1755 to 1758, the painter became concerned been crowned king of the Two Sicilies as that the Dresden court might intend to "lend" Charles VII. His marriage four years later to him to Naples without additional compensa­ Maria Amalia of Saxony­Wettin, a daughter tion. In these years, a friendship of far­reach­ of Augustus in, elector of Saxony and king ing intellectual consequences developed of Poland, ultimately resulted in a readjust­ between Mengs and Winckelmann, who had ment of Europe's dynastic framework, but arrived in Rome in 1755 supported by a initially it produced a new correlation Saxon pension. One of the tasks that the between two quite different cultural spheres.1 Dresden court had assigned to Winckelmann The exchanges between Saxony and Naples concerned Naples, perhaps in the expecta­ proved to be remarkably fertile, in spite of, tion that the dynastic link between the two or perhaps exactly because of, these courts would result in preferential treatment discrepancies. for the antiquarian: Winckelmann was The reign of Charles vn saw the beginning instructed to travel there immediately in of the officially controlled excavations of the order to examine the new discoveries and to Vesuvian towns. Their documentation in the compile a report for Dresden.4 form of illustrated publications, in spite of The implementation of this plan turned the many difficulties involved, triggered out to be fraught with difficulties, so that an artistic reorientation that was greatly Winckelmann's first of four trips to Naples advanced—especially in German­speaking took place only in March 1758.5 He first vis­ Europe — by Johann Joachim Winckelmann's ited Portici, staying with Padre Antonio observations on this "new antiquity" and on Piaggi, a former scriptor from the Vatican the problematic aspects of the excavations.2 Library who was busy unrolling carbonized These factors are more closely intertwined papyrus scrolls and making them legible.6 than is apparent at first sight. I shall attempt The first letter Winckelmann wrote after his to retrace the chapters and stages of this cul­ arrival was addressed to his friend Mengs in tural transfer and consider its art­historical Rome and described the paintings of the so­ consequences. called Basilica at , including Chiron and Achilles and Marsyas and Olym­ At the outset, the marriage between Charles pus, which were illustrated in the newly pub­ and Maria Amalia entailed the importation lished first volume of Le antichita di Jakob Philipp Hackert, The Great of Saxon court culture, leading to the estab­ Ercolano esposte.7 The letter bears eloquent Theater of , 1793, gouache (tempera) lishment of the first Capodimonte porcelain testimony to the power of Winckelmann's Watsik Stiftung Wtmutr factory in 1742 and to the creation of porce­ first encounter with the ancient paintings,

125 ROETTGEN German Painters in Naples i. C. F. Boece (Christian Friedrich vations in German­speaking Europe." The Boetius) after a drawing by Anton interest of German intellectuals and ama­ Raphael Mengs, Bust of Demos­ thenes, engraving, from Johann teurs was also stimulated by Memoire histo- Joachim Winckelmann, Send­ rique et critique sur la ville souterraine schreiben von den Herculanischen Entdeckungen an den hoch­ decouverte au pied du Mont-Vesuve, pub­ gebohrnen Herrn ... Heinrich lished anonymously in 1748 in and Reichsgrafen von Bruhl (Dresden, 12 1762), 96 translated into German in 1749. Research Library, Getty Research Winckelmann's letter to Mengs provides Institute, Los Angeles (87­811232) an accurate impression of their discussions w on the subject of painting in antiquity, which prepared the artist for a stay of several months in Naples. He arrived from Rome in autumn 1759 to paint the portrait of the young King Ferdinand iv." Winckelmann and Mengs had previously planned to spend time together in Naples, and in December 1759 the antiquarian was still hoping to be COENB able to visit the painter there in the spring.14 AH M O Winckelmann wanted to illustrate some

TOME AKK MVSCt lltRC of the works of art at Portici in his Send- schreiben — as the first published report to the Dresden court came to be known — and he anticipated that Mengs' privileged posi­ which he dated to the time of Nero. The tion at the Neapolitan court would enable young Achilles was drawn with a "maestria him to circumvent the ban on drawing the insuperabile," Winckelmann reported, prais­ works in the museum. But the restrictions ing its "franchezza" and "fiducia propria a were rigorously enforced, even for Mengs, gran maestri" as well as its "pastosita" and and he was able to produce furtively only "morbidezza," which he likened to the work one drawing after the bust of Demosthenes. of Correggio. At the same time, he reflected Winckelmann published an engraving of upon the reasons why the artist had only Mengs' drawing in the Sendschreiben partially followed nature when depicting the (fig. i).15 Beyond this, we know rather little shadows. Like most of his contemporaries, about Mengs' first stay in Naples. He was Winckelmann concluded from the white accompanied by his wife and by his assistant, areas emerging from underneath the paint Anton Maron, who was subsequently his losses that the paintings had not been exe­ brother­in­law. The party stayed with Ber­ cuted in fresco.8 Discussion about the tech­ nardo Galiani, the publisher of an edition of nique and artistic qualities of the paintings at Vitruvius that Winckelmann criticized,16 and Herculaneum, further advanced by Charles­ Mengs cultivated the aforementioned erudite Nicolas Cochin le jeune and the comte de clergyman Antonio Piaggi.17 The artistic Caylus, marks a methodological and art­his­ fruits of the seven months in Naples are diffi­ torical turning point.9 The ancient works cult to pinpoint. What we do know is that were now viewed in relation to Renaissance during the stay Mengs finished the large and contemporary art.10 Since access to the painting Augustus and Cleopatra,18 and that royal museum at Portici and to the excava­ immediately after his return to Rome he tion sites was severely restricted, Winckel­ began the Parnassus in the Villa Albani mann's scholarly findings caused a sensation. (fig. 2)." The fact that Mengs completely The reports he sent to Dresden were pub­ revised his original concept for the ceiling lished in 1762 and 1764 and contributed to fresco reveals the indelible imprint of his visit a surge in publicity for the Neapolitan exca­ to Naples. The most important change was

12.6 REDISCOVERING THE ANCIENT WORLD ON THE BAY OF NAPLES *• Anton Raphael Menus, Parnassus, the addition of Mnemosyne, mother of the 1760/1761, fresco, detail showing Muses, a figure clearly inspired by a personi­ Mnemosyne Villa Torlonia-Albani, Rome; photo­ fication identifiable as Arcadia in the paint­ graph Alinari Archives, ing with the Child Telephos from

}. Hercules with the Child Telephus the Basilica at Herculaneum, seen here in the and the Personification of Arcadia, engraving from the Antichita (fig. 3).20 ^graving, /.? antichita di P.rcolano The most obvious, but not unproblematic, tspotte, volume 1, L< pitture ontiche d'Ercolano e contomi mdsi indication of Mengs' engagement with ton qualche spiegazione (Naples, ancient paintings was the forgery of Jupiter !7S7), plate 6 21 National C.allery of Art Library, Wash­ Kissing Ganymede (fig. 4). It appeared in "•gton, Mark]. Millard Architectural Rome in September 1760, a few months after Collection his return from Naples.22 This is not the place to discuss the history and reception of this perhaps too famous work praised enthu­ siastically by Winckelmann,23 but it is evi­ dent that Jupiter's pose and drapery echo the same model as the Mnemosyne from the Villa Albani Parnassus. Winckelmann's obser­ vation about the ancient painters' technique of depicting shadows was simultaneously « <5> .iJSLHSSJJSLr WlW\ taken into account and "corrected" by Mengs: the short, sharp shadows of the feet are clearly visible, but Jupiter's right arm also casts a shadow, which can be discerned

12­ ROETTGEN German Painters in Naples 4. Anton Raphael Mengs, Jupiter on his torso.24 Moreover, the classicizing Kissing Ganymede, 1760, fresco transferred to canvas accessories — footstool, sandals, bowl, and Galieria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, jug—may have convinced Winckelmann that Rome; photograph Alinari Archives, he was looking at an ancient work, leaving Florence, permission of Ministero per i Beni e le Attivita Culturali aside the composition's dependence on the

5. Angelica Kauffmann, Portrait of Marsyas and Olympus reproduced in the John Byng, 176$, oil on canvas Antichita, skilfully blended with a quotation Private collection from Raphael's fresco Jupiter Kissing Amor in the Loggia di Psiche in Agostino Chigi's Roman villa, known today as La Farnesina.25 The archaeological influence on the revival of antiquity reflects a widespread tendency of these years, as an oblique glance at Joseph- Marie Vien's famous adaptation of an ancient genre scene confirms.26 When it was shown in the Paris Salon of 1763, The Seller of Cupids was extolled by Diderot.27 Success­ ful as it may have been in the area of the neoclassical decorative arts, for ambitious painters the maniere antique based on the exact imitation of ancient paintings remained merely a staging post en route to a deeper appropriation of the principles derived from the pictorial and formal repertory the Vesu­ vian excavations had brought to light. It was presumably her interest in the recently excavated works that prompted Angelica Kauffmann to visit Naples from July 1763 to April 1764, in addition to other factors such as the chance to cultivate new patrons among the city's diplomatic and courtly elite. The strategy was a success, since the artist's newly acquired Neapolitan contacts paved the way for her move to Brit­ ain.28 Most of Kauffmann's sitters in Naples were British, among them John Byng, who was portrayed against a backdrop of Portici and the smoking Vesuvius (fig. 5).29 On the table lies volume 2 of the Antichita, opened at the engraving of the Muse Urania from the celebrated cycle of the Muses from the Pompeian Praedia of Julia Felix. "1 At the top of the facing left­hand page, the words "merita di essere guardata con riflessione" (merits being looked at with reflection), while technically part of the text describing the engraving, are so prominent that they acquire programmatic meaning (figs. 6 and 7). Wendy Roworth has argued convinc­ ingly that this applies in two respects: from

128 REDISCOVERING THE ANCIENT WORLD ON THE BAY OF NAPLES g T A V O L A VIII. merita di crtcrc guaruata con riflclTione.

mm*mtm*mmlm.mlmllim>fm *m» flfiSTSSiSifl SttJ

friftt f J,*,"" "•- " ' ' r~. - -W«f«* " '**»£ ft i&TiZmUZ* * ^***f, MaTe 7X1-. fM*. /.« «"* ...... /r^wSt^T^l•*\ • jjiiFn .ui£ *,„ 4 rti'S"', *-"Ac * tliirr ; »Www jf -Y J , , J. *„- - . - .,Ai:rtt

J

TAVOLA IX.

6. Z,e antichita di Ercolano esposte, the viewpoint of the sitter, who considered volume 2, i.? pitture anticbe himself fortunate to obtain one of the d'ErcolatlG e conform iticisi con qualche spiegazione (Naples, sought-after copies of the Antichita, the •760), 51 phrase appears to comment on his study of National Gallery of Art Library. Wash­ ington, Mark J. Millard Architectural Naples and its ancient art;" and from Kauff- Collection -* mann's perspective, by contrast, the message

7- Muse Urania, engraving, Le becomes a motto for her encounter with the antichita di Ercolano esposte, ancient paintings of Herculaneum. A case in volume 2, Le pittttre anticbe d Ercolano e contorni incisi con point is an engraving from 1766 of a pensive qualche spiegazione (Naples, 1760), young woman (fig. 8), dressed like the Urania hi .' S3, plate X from the Antichita and similarly posed but National Gallery of Art Library, Wash­ 32 ington, Mark J. Millard Architectural in reverse (see fig. j). Striking a balance Collection between idealization and naturalism, this s- Angelica Kauftmann, Giovinetta depiction epitomizes the principles underlying pensicrosa, 1766, etching 1 careful reflection on ancient models as recom- Angelika Kauffmami Museum, Schwarzenbcrg mended in the passage from the Antichita. Byng, who was never to return to his home country, also commissioned a pair of Greek and Roman historical subjects from Kauff- mann: Chryseis Returning to Her Father and Coriolanus Persuaded by His Family to

ROETTGEN German Painters in Naples cal flair, evolved during her years in Britain, the delicate female figures clad in light, finely draped fabrics, as well as the putti and chil­ dren that later became her trademarks, all demonstrate the lessons learned through careful reflection on the ancient paintings from Herculaneum and their engravings. During her stay in Naples, the young Angelica Kauffmann had made the acquain­ tance of Johann Friedrich Reiffenstein, who was then experimenting with the creation of encaustic paintings and whose portrait she etched while on a visit to Ischia.'4 On the recommendation of Reiffenstein, she met Winckelmann after her return to Rome. The i antiquarian sat for her while preparing his Sendschreiben for publication.33 This connec­ tion supports Bettina BaumgartePs hypothe­ sis that Kauffmann's Bacchus Finding Ariadne on the Island of Naxos, dated 1764 1/ (fig. 9), could be read as a poetic paraphrase • of Winckelmann's Gescbichte der Kunst des Alterthums.36 In the text, Winckelmann employs Ariadne, abandoned by Theseus, as a metaphor for his attempt to provide a his­ torical account of ancient art: "Just as a beloved stands on the seashore and follows with tearful eyes her departing sweetheart, with no hope of seeing him again, and believes she can glimpse even in the distant sail the image of her lover — so we, like the lover, have as it were only a shadowy out­ line of the subject of our desires remaining. But this arouses so much the greater longing for what is lost.'"7 Convincing as it may seem, the suggestion that Kauffmann owed 9. Angelica Kauffmann, Bacchus Spare Rome.33 The pendants, completed in her fascinating pictorial idea to the anti­ Finding Ariadne on the Island of 1765, reflect Kauffmann's experience in Naxos, 1764, oil on canvas quarian becomes plausible only when the Kunstbesitz der Landeshauptstadt Rome, where painters such as Batoni, Mengs, painting from Herculaneum (shown here in Bregenz Nathaniel Dance, and Gavin Hamilton were the engraving from the Antichita), which composing history paintings of ancient sub­ Winckelmann describes almost literally, is jects in Nicolas Poussin's classicizing foot­ taken into account: it shows the distraught steps. But her clumsy, awkward figures lack Ariadne on a daybed, her gaze pursuing the the precise draftsmanship and painterly qual­ retreating ship (fig. 10).,s One of Winckel­ ities that the Roman clientele had come to mann's letters testifies to the deep impres­ expect from their artists. It is obvious that sion left on him by the young, cosmopolitan Kauffmann had not yet developed the grace­ artist, and his portrait by her hand seems to ful personal style that characterizes her later indicate that she was in turn stimulated by history paintings. Although this style, partic­ the conversations with him.39 Apparently ularly effective in ancient subjects with a lyri­ they discussed the subject of grace, which

130 REDISCOVERING THE ANCIENT WORLD ON THE BAY OF NAPLES 10. Ariadne Abandoned by Theseus empress Maria Theresa, admonished her at Naxos, engraving, he antichita di Hrcolano esposte, volume 2., he pit- never to forget her German birth, and indeed ture anticbe d'Ercolano e contorni she always followed this precept, whether in incisi con qualche spiegazione (Naples, 1760), plate 14 the acquisition of books for her private 44 National Gallery of Art Library, Wash­ library or in favoring German­born artists. ington, Mark J. Millard Architectural In December 1781, by inviting Friedrich Collection Heinrich Fiiger, then holder of a scholarship at the Vienna Academy in Rome, to decorate her library at Caserta, she intended obviously also to establish an up­to­date neoclassical 45 ffifr i style in Naples. Fiiger had been a pupil of the Mengs­trained Nicolas Guibal, court £ ^^T^^^PiBHHBHl painter in Stuttgart; later, in , he had studied under Adam Friedrich Oeser, one of Winckelmann's first teachers in art history * C—tr*- - during his stay in Dresden (1748­1755).46 Fiiger had spent several years in Rome, tfi«A i.unijiriif ^fffirtr studying initially under Mengs, and he had come to Naples at the invitation of the Habsburg envoy Anton Franz Lamberg (1740­1825) in order to visit the excava­ tions at Herculaneum and Pompeii. The Bib­ lioteca Palatina at Caserta, the library that Winckelmann compared to water in that it he decorated for the queen, who covered "is perfected by having less taste of its the expenses for Fiiger and his collaborator own."40 The open book on which he rests Andreas Nesselthaler out of her private his hands is propped up on an ancient budget, can be called the earliest and purest of the Three Graces.41 expression of the neoclassical style in In 1782 Kauffmann returned to Naples, Naples.47 The question of whether he also and during an audience at court she was drafted the complex program for the four given a commission by Queen Maria Caro­ large wall paintings is still unresolved.48 lina for a very large portrait of the royal Though Fiiger refers to the commission in a family.42 Set in an English landscape park letter of October 1781 to Wenzel Anton von with a minimum of formality in poses and Kaunitz, he does not mention any icono­ attire, the group portrait of the royal couple graphic details.49 However, his previous and their flock of children, finished in 1784, training with Oeser, who was deeply inter­ speaks of Maria Carolina's openness to neo­ ested in the invention of modern allegories, classical ideas and natural simplicity. The seems to support the hypothesis of Fuger's monumentalized family idyll is rounded out decisive contribution to the iconographic by a harp, a pram, and an ancient krater program of the library.30 Certainly Maria placed on a cippus. Carolina, a supporter of Freemasonry — Apart from governing his kingdom, Ferdi­ Fiiger later became a Mason — took an nand iv's chief interest was hunting, as it had active interest in the program, whose precise been for his father, Charles vn.4i It therefore iconographical meaning remains unclear.51 fell to his wife to assume the mantle of cul­ Revelation of Truth (fig. 11) features several tural mediator, a task to which Maria Caro­ significant motifs from the symbolic lan­ lina devoted herself with even more zeal than guage of Freemasonry.52 In the right­hand Charles' wife, Maria Amalia. When Maria section of the picture can be distinguished Carolina left Vienna in 1768 for her mar­ the Muse Clio, indicating to the approaching riage to Ferdinand iv, her mother, the figures of Marcus Aurelius, Epaminondas,

Mi ROETTGEN German Painters in Naples 11 i iS V

ii. Friedrich Heinrich Fiiger, Reve­ Socrates, Homer, and Phidias the obelisk on umental simplicity of the library's decorative lation of Truth, 1782-1783, tem­ 55 pera and fresco which their names are inscribed. The two fig­ scheme reflect Pompeian influences. Having Palazzo Reale, Caserta, Biblioteca ures closing the group bear the idealized fea­ completed the library's decorations in 1783, Palatina tures of Mengs and of Raphael, whose Fiiger returned to Vienna, where a successful likeness seems to have been borrowed from a career as an academy instructor, history portrait of the young painter who appears painter, and portraitist awaited him.56 Wall here in the role of a new Raphael. The pen­ painting played no role in his subsequent dant painting, the so­called Parnassus, career, which might have taken quite a depicts a procession of the Graces headed by different turn if he had decided to remain Apollo and Abundance (fig. 12).5' They are in Naples. greeted by peasants, shepherds, fishermen, The next German painter to settle in and mothers. This appears to be an allusion Naples was Jakob Philipp Hackert, who was to the topos of the Golden Age. The two nar­ appointed court painter in 1786.57 On his rower wall paintings are devoted to allego­ previous visits in 1770, 1772, and 1774, he ries: Poetic Inspiration and Rebirth of the had discovered the Arcadian beauty of the Fine Arts (figs. 13 and 14). Even though Campania Felix, the epithet applied since Fiiger's style was defined by French academic antiquity to the province of Naples, and he classicism,54 the wall paintings in the Biblio­ had also discovered the marketability of teca Palatina at Caserta provide substantial paintings of the eruption of Vesuvius." evidence that he carefully scrutinized the Hackert first came to the attention of Ferdi­ paintings at Pompeii and Herculaneum. The nand iv in 1784, when the king ordered four friezelike disposition of the figures hugging gouache landscapes for his study in the pal­ the picture plane is reminiscent of Pompeian ace at Caserta.59 A commission for large oil wall decorations such as the celebrated frieze paintings with views of the ports, the royal in the Villa of the Mysteries, while the elon­ estates, and hunts followed. The artist's work gated forms of the faces and their exagger­ for the court also included wall paintings at ated eye shapes also recall ancient models the Casino Reale in Cardiello and the hunt­ recorded in the Antichita (figs. 15 and 16). ing lodge at Fusaro as well as encaustic Furthermore, both the painting technique, a paintings for the Bagno di Maria Carolina in mixture of fresco and tempera, and the mon­ the Belvedere at San Leucio near Caserta in

132 REDISCOVERING THE ANCIENT WORLD ON THE BAY OF NAPLES iz. Friedrich Hcinrich Fiiger, Parnassus, 1782- 1783, tempera and fresco Palazzo Reaie, Caserta, Biblioteca Palatina

13. Friedrich Heinrich Fiiger, Rebirth of the Fine Arts, 1782-1783, tempera and fresco Palazzo Reale, Caserta, Biblioteca Palatina

i

y

\\\ ROETTGEN German Painters in Naples 14. Friedrich Heinrich Fiiger, Poetic Inspiration, 1782-1783, tempera and fresco Palazzo Reale, Caserta, Biblioteca Palatina

5S^te V * if 41 1***

#

15. Liberation ofAndromeda, engraving, Le antichita di Ercolano esposte, volume 4, Le pitture antiche di Ercolano e contorni incisi con qualcbe sptegazione (Naples, 1765), plate 7 National Gallery of Art Library, Wash­ ington, Mark j. Millard Architectural Collection m

16. Medea Meditating, engraving,

Le antichita di Ercolano espostey volume 1, Le pitture antiche di Ercolano e contorni incisi con qual­ che spiegazione (Naples, 1757), r plate 13 National Gallery of Art Library, Wash­ ington, Mark j. Millard Architectural m Collection M

w > K~'~ ) k mmi

^H-fefrS^^-

134 REDISCOVERING THE ANCIENT WORLD ON THE BAY OF NAPLES had been in protracted negotiations to entrust this task to foreign artists.65 The first step was Tanucci's proposal to confide the reorganization of teaching to Mengs, who passed the winter of 1772/1773 in Naples.66 To extend Mengs' stay, Ferdinand iv asked Charles m, in Madrid, then Mengs' employer, to give the German painter per­ mission to do some work in the royal palace at Caserta.67 Some years later the Neapolitan court offered Mengs the position of director of the academy, but, as Mengs' biographer Giuseppe Niccolo Azara recorded, the letter I arrived just eight days after his death, in July 1779.6ti Although this first attempt failed, it may have been a factor in Ferdi­ nand's appointment, ten years later, of another German as director of the Acca­ demia del Disegno. 17. Jakob Philipp Hackert, The 1793 and for the Villa Favorita at Hercula- Implementing a syllabus based on aca­ Great Theater of Pompeii, gouache 60 (tempera), 1793 neum. In his compositions, Hackert fused demic principles, Tischbein labored for Klassik Stifttmg the scenic beauty of Naples and its surround­ eleven years to renew Neapolitan art, with ings with an idealized image of tranquil limited success. He adhered to the principles country life. The shepherds and flocks of of academic , but it seems that Campania and the picturesque ruins of the he had less interest in promoting the study of Vesuvian towns (fig. 17) became a projection the nude than Mengs, who was deeply con­ space for an idyllic notion of the simplicity vinced that this aspect of academic training of Homer's and Virgil's worlds.61 Hackert was essential to the formation of an accom­ also assumed the role of an artistic director plished artist. Indeed, the surviving corpus of for the Neapolitan court. In Friedrich Anders Tischbein's drawings includes no academic (or Andres), who had studied under Mengs nudes.69 In spite of his comprehensive aca­ in Rome, he recommended to the Neapolitan demic knowledge and remarkable literary court an experienced restorer of ancient erudition, the artistic legacy of Tischbein's painting,''2 and in 1787 it was Hackert who Neapolitan years was rather slim, especially organized the transport of the Farnese collec­ in painting.70 Some of his major works, such tion of antiquities from Rome to Naples, as Goethe in the Campagna, Iphigenia and which provided the main impetus for the cre­ Orestes, Amazons Riding, and Castor and ation of the Museo Nuovo dei Vecchi Studi, Pollux, though completed in Naples, were later called the Real Museo Borbonico and conceived and begun when he was still in now the Museo Archeologico Nazionale.63 Rome.71 It seems indeed that his main activ­ Goethe, who had arrived in Naples in Febru­ ity during the Neapolitan period consisted in ary of the same year, considered the painter copying antique examples and in studying "the driving force behind this enterprise."64 and sketching everyday life in Naples. The At Hackert's instigation, Johann Heinrich surviving drawings in Naples collections are, Wilhelm Tischbein, who had accompanied however, quite modest.72 Fleeing by boat, Goethe to Naples, was appointed director together with Hackert, before the French of the Accademia del Disegno in 1789. Since invasion of Naples in March 1799, he was 1772, as part of its attempts to renew local forced to leave behind his collection of painting, which was still caught in the wake ancient vases — now in the Kunsthistorisches of Solimena's influence, the Neapolitan court Museum in Vienna7'—as well as his larger

[35 ROETTGEN German Painters in Naples 18. Johann Heinrich Wilhelm way back to England.74 According to Hamil­ Tischbein, Iris Serving Hera, c. 1800, graphite and watercolor ton's instructions Tischbein's drawings should Museumslandscbaft Hessen, Kassel, be limited to "simple outline of the figures Graphiscbe Sammlung without unnecessary ornements or colouring" (fig. 18).75 While Tischbein was still in Naples, the Collection of Engravings from Ancient Vases was published in four volumes contain­ ing 240 plates, together with iconographical descriptions, an enterprise which exerted con­ siderable influence on neoclassical outline drawings all over Europe.76 Independently of 19. Johann Heinrich Wilhelm the Hamilton project and while still in Rome, Tischbein, The family of a Fisher­ man with Vesuvius in the Back­ Tischbein had begun already around 1787 to ground, before 1 806, black chalk, make drawings after vases, cameos, and other pen and brown ink, and watercolor ancient pieces, which he was planning to Reproduced from Christie's Inc., Drawings hy J. H. W. Tischbein (New publish as a Homeric picture book. After York, January Z2, 2003), 123 many difficulties and a great deal of wasted effort, his Homer nacb Antiken gezeicbnet, augmented by explanatory texts by Christian Gottlieb Heyne, was published in several installments and editions from 1801 to 1823. It was never completed, as Hildegard Wiegel has shown,77 but in this book, both archaeo­ logical scholarship and the arts gained a highly useful reference work. Although such reproductions were undoubtedly Tischbein's most influential 2* r contribution to the revival of antiquity, his 4­ eleven years in Naples were to produce A -a another late but highly original result: his > forty­four oil paintings in the series known i as the Idylls, executed in Oldenburg in 1819­ 1820 but conceived in 1787 in collab­ oration with Goethe.78 The two friends had envisaged a joint project, with Tischbein supplying the illustrations and Goethe the poetry. When the painter attempted to revive \p • the scheme in 1821, he sent his watercolor sketches to the poet in Weimar. These and other sketches, such as those for the so­called canvases, the famous portrait of Goethe Sibylline Books, bear witness to Tischbein's among them. It was only when Tischbein highly idiosyncratic reception of the art of had reestablished himself in that the ancient Vesuvian towns.79 The seemingly the impressions and materials gathered in naive approach manifest in these vernacular Naples really bore fruit in his art, with far- scenes (fig. 19), staged with great simplicity reaching consequences. and a minimum of figures, is in fact based on From 1791 onward, Tischbein worked for a detailed knowledge of the formal principles Sir William Hamilton, the British envoy to of ancient painting. Those that evoke a Naples, creating drawings of his second col­ mythical world (fig. 20) employ the same sty­ lection of vases, which would be lost on the listic and expressive means as the paintings

136 REDISCOVERING THE ANCIENT WORLD ON THE BAY OF NAPLES io. Johann Hcinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, The Cumaean Sybil in a Grotto with Vesuvius Erupting by Night, before 1806, black chalk, pen and brown ink, and watercolor Reproduced from Christie's Inc., Drawings by J. H, W. Tischbein (New York, January 22, 2003), 131

pf/i

IM S

2,1. Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, A Father and His Son on the Beach during the Eruption of Vesuvius, 1794, black chalk, pen iv and gray ink, and watercolor with white heightening Klassik Stiftung Weimar

of quotidian Arcadia. Tischbein's reminis­ cences of the contemporary world of the v 4 south had been transfigured by the distance - -t l in years and latitudes in the same way as his view of the ancient world (fig. 21). If the revival of antiquity on the Bay of Naples might be compared to a polyphonic chorus, German voices had a persistent part in it from 1760 to 1799, including major art­ ists of two generations who promoted neo­ classical ideals and principles all over Europe - . • v' through the widespread reputation and dis­ tribution of their works from Dresden to Madrid or from Vienna to and St. N t Petersburg. Dynastic relationships between the northern European courts and the court of Naples gave these artists the opportunities to become involved in the spreading influ­ ence of ancient art conceived as a new model for experiencing art within modern culture and everyday life. Their efforts in imitating antique models provided a long­lasting incentive for the promotion of "Pompeian taste" in the north.

137 ROETTGEN German Painters in Naples NOTES Werk von Anne Claude Philippe de Thubieres, Comte de Caylus (1692­176;) (Weimar, 2006). 1. Christoph Rodiek, "Obelisk und Katafalk," in Dres­ 10. Zevi 1980, 63. den und Spanien: Akten des Interdiszipliniiren Colloqui­ ums der Technischen Universitdt (TU) Dresden [June 11. Johann Joachim Winckelmann, Sendschreiben von 1998], ed. Christoph Rodiek (Frankfurt am Main, zooo), den Herculanischen Entdeckungen an den hochge­ 2-5-39. bohrnen Herrn ... Heinrich Reichsgrafen von Bruhf (Dresden, 1762); Johann Joachim Winckelmann, Nach­ 2. Fausto Zevi, "Gli scavi di Ercolano," in Civilta del richten von den neuesten Herculanischen Entdeckungen '700 a Napoli, 1734­1799, ed. Denise Maria Pagano an den hochgebohrnen Heinrich Fuessli aus Zurich and Mariella Utili, 2 vols. (Museo e Gallerie Nazionali (Dresden, 1764). See also Stephanie­Gerrit Bruer and di Capodimonte, Naples, 1980), 2:58-68; Max Kunze, Max Kunze, eds., Herkulanische Schriften Winckel­ "Zu Winckelmanns Schriften iiber Herkulaneum und manns, vol. 2, parts 1 and 2 of Schriften und Nachlafl I Pompeji," in Pompeji 79­1979, ed. Max Kunze, Johann Joachim Winckelmann (Mainz, 1996) and Adolf Schriften der Winckelmann-Gesellschaft, vol. 11 (Sten- H. Borbein and Max Kunze, eds., Briefe, Entwiirfe und dal, 1982), 25-39. For Winckelmanns published letter Rezensionen zu den Herkulanischen Schriften, vol. 2, and report, see Carol C. Mattusch, ed. and trans., part 3 of Schriften und Nachlafi I Johann Joachim Johann Joachim Winckelmann: Letter and Report on the Winckelmann (Mainz, 2001). English translation: Carol Discoveries at Herculaneum (Los Angeles, 2011). C. Mattusch, trans, and ed., Johann Joachim Winckel­ 3. Alvar Gonzales Palacios, "Le arti decorative e l'arre- mann: letter and Report on the Discoveries at Hercula­ damento alia corte di Napoli: 1734-1805" and "La neum (Los Angeles, 201 1). Real Fabbrica della Porcellana a Napoli," in Pagano and 12. Zevi 1980, 68. Utili 1980, 2:76-95, 126; Steffi Roettgen, "I soggiorni di Anton Raphael Mengs a Napoli e a Madrid," in Arti 13. Steffi Roettgen, Anton Raphael Mengs, 172.8­1779, e civilta del Settecento a Napoli, ed. Cesare De Seta vol. 1, Das malerische und zeichnerische Werk (Munich, (Bari, 1982), 153-179. 1999), 200­202 (cats. 132, 134).

4. Winckelmann to Hieronymus Dietrich Berendis, July 14. Winckelmann to Berendis, December 12, 1759, in 25, 1755; see Johann Joachim Winckelmann, Briefe, Briefe, 1:58. 4 vols., ed. Walther Rehm, vol. 1, 1742­1759 (, 15. Though the engraving by Boetius is inscribed 1952), 180 (114) (volume cited subsequently as Briefe, Joannes Winckelmann del., the drawing was made by 1). Mengs, according to two letters of Winckelmann dated 5. The dates of Winckelmann's four stays in Naples were October 16, 1762: Briefe, ed. Walther Rehm, vol. 2, February 23, 1758, to the end of April 1758; January 16 I759~I7^} (Berlin, 1954), 265, as well as August 1 2, to February 18, 1762; : February-March 1764; and T7^3> 337 (volume cited subsequently as Briefe, 2); see September 19, 1767, to November 19, 1767. The best also Roettgen 1999, 471 ­472 (Z 138). The reason for account of Winckelmann's life in Naples, his relations to this omission was probably Mengs' concern at being the court of Naples, and the intellectual circles he fre­ named the author of a forbidden copy. quented there is still Carl Justi, Winckelmann und seine 1 6. Berardo Galiani, ed., L'architettura di M. Vitruvio Zeitgenossen, 3 vols. (1866­1872; 5th ed. Cologne, Pollione (Naples, 1758) (Latin and Italian). 1956); see 2:199­273. 17. Winckelmann to Mengs, March 11, 1758, in Briefe, 6. Justi 1956, 2:216­219. 1=337­ 7. Le antichita di Ercolano esposte, vol. 1, Le pitture [8. Roettgen 1999, 157­161 (cat. 105); see color plate antiche d'Ercolano e contorni incisi con qualche spiega­ in Steffi Roettgen, ed., Mengs: La scoperta del neoclas­ zione (Naples, 1757), pis. 8 and 9 (volume cited subse­ sico (Fondazione Palazzo Zabarella, ; , quently as Antichita, 1); Museo Archeologico Nazionale, 2001), 270. Naples, 9109, 9151. 19. Roettgen 1999, 397­403 (cat. 304), see color plate 8. Winckelmann to Anton Raphael Mengs, March 11, 1758, see Briefe, 1:336­339; see also Zevi 1980, 59. '5­ 20. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples, 9008. 9. Christian Michel, ed., Le voyage d'ltalie de Charles­ Nicolas Cochin, 1758, facsimile edition, Collection de 21. Roettgen 1999, 164­167 (no. 108), color plate 7. 1'Ecole francaise de Rome, 145 (Rome, 1991); Charles­ 22. Steffi Roettgen, "Storia di un falso: II Ganimede di Nicolas Cochin and Jerome Charles Bellicard, Observa­ Mengs," I'arte illustrata 54 (1973): 256­270. tions sur les antiquites de la ville d'Herculanum par messieurs Cochin le fils et Bellicard, ed. F.dith Flamarion 23. Winckelmann to Johannes Wiedewelt, December 9, and Catherine Volpilhac­Auger (Saint­Etienne, 1996); M. 1760, in Briefe, 2:107 (377); see &lso Roettgen 1973, le comte de Caylus [Anne­Claude­Philippe de Tubieres 267. de Grimoard de Pestels de Levis] and M. [Michel­ 24. In his letter to Mengs, dated Portici, March 11, 1758, Joseph] Majault, Memoire sur la peinture a I'encaustique largely devoted to the characteristics of some paintings et sur la peinture a la cire (1755), facsimile ed. (Puteaux, from Herculaneum such as Chiron and Achilles and 1999). On the latter see Zevi 1980, 63­64; and Joachim Marsyas and Olympus, Winckelmann observes: "Ma Rees, Die Kultur des Amateurs: Studien zu Leben und quello che non si pud capire, e die le figure, le quali

138 REDISCOVERING THE ANCIENT WORLD ON THE BAY OF NAPLES fanno 1'ombra in giu, cioe i piedi, non fanno ombra sul things couldn't be better). Italienische Reise, in Goetbes campo della pittura." (Briefe, 1:2.06, 338.) Werke: Autobiographische Scbriften, vol. 3, ed. Herbert von Einem and Erich Trunz (Munich, 1974), 184. 25. Anticbita, 1, pi. 9, and Roettgen 1973, 263 (fig. 8). 44. "Vous n'oublieres jamais d'etre nee Allemande" 26. The ancient wall painting (Museo Archeologico (Alfred von Arneth, Gescbichte Maria Theresia's [Vienna, Nazionale, Naples, 9180) is reproduced in Le anticbita 1863­1879], 7:552); Giuseppe de Nitto, Biblioteca Pala­ di Ercolauo esposte, vol. 2, Le pitture antiche d'Erco- tina, Palazzo Reale, Caserta (Rome, 1994); and Gian lano e contorni incisi con qualche spiegazione (Naples, Marco Jacobitti and Anna Maria Romano, // Palazzo 1760), pi. 7 (volume cited subsequently as Anticbita, 2). Reale di Caserta (Naples, 1994), 66­70. See figs. 16 and 17 in the essay by Nancy Ramage in this volume. 45. Fernando Mazzocca, "II Regno di Napoli: La corte," and Enrico Colle, "II Regno di Napoli: Decorazioni d'in­ 27. Thomas W. Gaehtgens, "Love Fleeing Slavery: A terni e manifatture," in II Neoclassicismo in Italia: Da Sketch in the Princeton University Museum," Record of Tiepolo a Canova, ed. Francesco Mazzocca et al. (Pala­ the Art Museum, Princeton University 65 (2006-2007): zzo Reale, Milan, 2002), 241­250. 12-21. 46. Michael Wenzel, Adam Friedrich Oeser: Theorie und 28. Helmut Swozilek, ed., Memorie istoricbe di Maria Praxis in der Kunst zwiscben Aufklarung und Klassizis­ Angelica Kauffmann Zuccbi riguardanti I'arte della pit­ mus (Weimar, 1999); Justi 1956, 1:397­408. tura da lei professata serine da G. C. Z. (Giuseppe Carlo Zuccbi] Venezia MDCCLXXXVIII (Bregenz, 1999), 47. Annalisa Porzio, "Gli affreschi di Fiiger nella Biblio­ 47-48. teca Reale di Caserta," in Scritti di storia dell'arte in onore di Raffaello Causa, ed. Pierluigi Leone de Castris 29. The Collection of Wrotham Park, Hertfordshire, (Naples, 1988), 343­349. On the expenses, see Robert reproduced as a color plate in Wendy Wassyng Roworth, Keil, Heinrich Friedrich Fiiger, 1751­1818: Nur weni­ Angelica Kauffmann: A Continental Artist in Georgian gen ist es vergonnt das Licht der Wahrheit zu sehen England (The Royal Pavilion, Brighton; London, 1992), (Vienna, 2009), 52­53. fig. 10. 48. Pancheri proposed recently the name of Johann Mel­ 30. Anticbita, 2, pi.8. chior Edler von Birkenstock, friend of Fiiger and later 31. Roworth 1992, 20-21. his brother Mason in Vienna; see Roberto Pancheri, "Heinrich Fiiger in Italia," in Casa di Re: La Reggia di 32. See Bettina Baumgartel, ed., Angelika Kauffmann Caserta fra storia e tutela, ed. Rosanna Cioffi and 1741­1807: "Eine Dichterin mit dem Pinsel" (Kunst- Giovanna Petrenga (Milan, 2005), 35­42. museum Diisseldorf; Ostfildern, 1998), 414. 49. Eduard Leisching, Die Bildnis­Miniatur in Oester­ 33. Roworth 1992, 33-36, color plates in Baumgartel reich von 1750 bis 1S50 (Vienna, 1907), 270. 1998, nos. 26, 27. 50. Keil 2009, 56. 34. Baumgartel 1998, no. 15. 51. Keil 2009, 52­59, 228­230. 35. The portrait of Winckelmann is signed and dated 1764 (color plate in Baumgartel 1998, cat. 21); see also 52. Rosanna Cioffi Martinelli, La Cappella Sansevero: Winckelmann to Heinrich Fiissli [Henry Fuseli], July 13, Arte barocca e ideologia massonica (Salerno, 1987), 1764; see Briefe, ed. Walther Rehm, vol. 3,1764­1768 116­120. Pancheri indicates as a possible reference also (Berlin, 1956), 47-48 (volume cited subsequently as the frontispiece of Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclo­ Briefe, 3). pedic, engraved after a drawing by Charles­Nicolas Cochin le jeune and published in 1771 (Pancheri, 2005, 36. Baumgartel 1998, no. 25, 134. 38). The four wall paintings are reproduced in color in 37. Johann Joachim Winckelmann, Gescbichte der Kunst Keil 2009, pis. 10­13. des Alterthums, English translation, History of the Art 53. This painting bears the signature of the artist and the of Antiquity, trans. Harry Francis Mallgrave (Los Ange­ date 1782; see Keil 2009, 54. les, 2006), 351. 54. Keil 2009, 50. 38. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples, 9047. 55. Illustration in Cioffi 1987, 344. 39. Winckelmann to August Hermann Francke, August 18,1764; see Briefe, 3:54­55. 56. In 1790 he painted a portrait of the Marchese di Gallo, then ambassador of the Bourbon court at Vienna; 40. Johann Joachim Winckelmann, "Von der Grazie in see Roberto Pancheri in Mazzocca et al. 2002, 485­486. den Werken der Kunst," in Kleine Scbriften, Vorredcn, Entwiirfe, ed. Walther Rehm (Berlin, 1968), 158. 57. Bettina Werche, "Jakob Philipp Hackert als konigli­ cher Hofmaler in Neapel und Caserta (1782­1799)," in 41. Baumgartel 1998, 129. Jakob Philipp Hackert: Europas Landschaftsmaler der 42. Baumgartel 1998, 33, 276­285. Goethezeit (Klassik Stiftung Weimar; Ostfildern, 2008), 183­221 (volume cited subsequently as Klassik Stiftung 43. See Goethe's comment in the diary of his Italian jour­ Weimar 2008). ney (February 25, 1787): "Der Konig ist auf der Jagd, die Konigin guter Hoffnung, so kann's nicht besser 58. Cesare Ripa, lconologia overo descrittione di diverse gehen" (The king is off hunting, the queen is expecting; imagini cavate dall'anticbita, e di propria invenzione, ed.

139 ROETTGEN German Painters in Naples Erna Mandowsky (Hildesheim, 1970), 260-263; Jorg zwischen Kunst, Wissenschaft und Alltagskultur, ed. Trempler, "Gegen-Arkadien: Zu Hackerts Vesuvbildern," Arnd Friedrich (Petersberg, 2001), 119-133; 3 x Tisch­ in Europa Arkadien: Jakob Philipp Hackert und die bein und die europdische Malerei um 1800 (Staatliche Imagination Europas um 1800, ed. Andreas Beyer et al. Museen Kassel; Munich, 2005) (volume cited subse­ (Gottingen, 2008), 164-185. quently as Staatliche Museen Kassel 2005).

59. Paolo Chiarini, ed., // paesaggio secondo natura: 71. Staatliche Museen Kassel 2005, nos. 30, 31, 32, and ]acob Philipp Hackert e la sua cerchia (Palazzo delle 76. Esposizioni, Rome, 1994), 175-176; see also various 72. Marina Causa Picone, "Goethe e i suoi interlocutori," essays in Cesare De Seta, ed., Jacob Philipp Hackert: La in Goethe e i suoi interlocutori, ed. Annalisa Porzio and linea analitica della pittura di paesaggio in Europa Marina Causa Picone (Palazzo Reale, Naples, 1983), (Palazzo Reale, Caserta; Naples, 2007). 106­313. A large number of drawings in public and pri­ 60. Sergio Attanasio, "Villa Favorita ad Ercolano e la vate Neapolitan collections published in this catalogue serie dei porti del Regno," in De Seta 2007, 131-138. and attributed to Tischbein do not stand up to a critical revision and evaluation of his authorship. 61. Andreas Stolzenburg, "Die archaologische Land- schaft: Jakob Philipp Hackerts Reise nach Paestum und 73. Alfred­Bernhard Walcher, "Die Wiener Vasensam­ Sizilien im Jahr 1777 und die Ausgrabungen in Pompeji," mlung," in Antike Welten: Meisterwerke griechischer in Klassik Stiftung Weimar 2008, 33-43; Achatz von Malerei aus dem Kunsthistorischen Museum Wien, ed. Miiller, "Erinnerung, Idyll, Konflikt, Utopie," in Beyer et Meinrad Maria Grewenig (Historisches Museum der al. 2008, 363-372. Pfalz, Speyer, 1997), 21­25.

62. Goethe, diary, March 15, 1787; see von Einem and 74. Carlo Knight, Hamilton a Napoli: Cultura, svaghi, Trunz 1974, 207. For practices of restoration of ancient civilta di una grande capitate europea (Naples, 2003). painting in Naples see Agnes Allroggen-Bedel, "Tanti 75. Hildegard Wiegel, "Johann Heinrich Tischbein bei quadri per la Galleria del Re': Restaurierung und (1751­1829): Vasenwerk," in Staatliche Museen Kassel Presentation antiker Wandmalereien im 18. Jahrhun- 2005, 140­147. dert," in Winckelmann-Gesellschaft, Wiedererstandene Antike: Ergdnzungen antiker Kunstwerke seit der 76. Collection of Engravings from Ancient Vases Mostly Renaissance, ed. Max Kunze and Axel Rugler (Munich, of Pure Greek Workmanship Discovered in Sepulchres 2003), 95-112. in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies but Chiefly in the Neighbourhood of Naples ... (Naples, 1791). Volumes 63. Federico Rausa, "Quattro secoli di storia di una col- 2­4 appeared in 1795. See Wiegel 2005, 142. On its lezione tra Roma e Napoli," in La collezione Farnese, ed. influence on drawing, see Werner Busch, "Die Neudefini­ Carlo Gasparri (Naples, 2009), 13-23. tion der Umrifizeichnung in Rom am Ende des 18. Jahr­ 64. Goethe, diary, Rome, June 20, 1787; see von Einem hunderts," in Zeichnen in Rom 1790­1830, ed. Margret and Trunz 1974, 352. Stuffmann and Werner Busch, Kunstwissenschaftliche Bibliothek 19 (Cologne, 2001), 11­44. 65. Rosanna Cioffi, "Dall'Arcadia di Solimena all'Acca- demia di Tischbein," in Roma, "11 tempio del vera 77. Wiegel 2005, 143­144. gusto ": La pittura del Settecento romano e la sua diffu- 78. Peter Reindl, ed., Das Homer­Zimmer fur den Her­ sione a Venezia e a Napoli, ed. Enzo Borsellino and Vit- zog von Oldenburg: Ein klassizistisches Bildprogramm torio Casale (Florence, 2001), 297-305. des "Goethe­Tischbein" (Landesmuseum, Oldenburg, 66. Angelo Borzelli, "L'Accademia del Disegno a Napoli 1994); Margret Elisabeth Burscheidt, "Vergegenwarti­ nella seconda meta del secolo xvm," in Napoli nobilis- gung der Antike in Wilhelm Tischbeins Idyllenzyklus," sima 9, fasc. 5 (1900): 71-76; C. Lorenzetti, L'Accade­ in Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein: Goethes Maler mia di Belle Arti a Napoli (Naples, 1952); Steffi und Freund, ed. Hermann Mildenberger (Landes­ Roettgen, Anton Raphael Mengs, 1728­1779, vol. 2, museum, Oldenburg; Neumiinster, 1986), 101­1 10; Leben und Wirken (Munich, 2003), 328. Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein: Aquarelle, Gouachen und Zeichnungen, ed. Hermann Mildenberger, 67. Mengs to an unknown recipient, March 1, 1773, in Patrimonia 274 (Schlofs'museum, Weimar, 2006). Roettgen 2003, 547 79. Mildenberger 2006, 29­32. 68. Giuseppe Niccola d'Azara, "Memorie concernenti la vita di Antonio Raffaello Mengs," in Opere di Antonio Raffaello Mengs, primo pittore del Re cattolico Carlo 111, ed. Giuseppe Niccola d'Azara and Carlo Fea (Rome, 1787), XXXVII.

69. As far as I know none of his nude or drapery studies from the Naples academy have survived.

70. Jorg Deuter, '"In Neapel habe ich gute Hoffnung fur die Kunst': Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbeins Nea- politaner Zeit (1787-1799) zwischen Antikenbegeiste- rung und Kunstindustrie," in Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein (1751­1829): Das Werk des Goethe­Malers

140 REDISCOVERING THE ANCIENT WORLD ON THE BAY OF NAPLES