Jacob Philippe Hackert

(Prenzlau 1737-1807 San Pietro di Careggi)

Peasants grazing their cattle beside a lake, in a campagna landscape

Footnotes

The present work, a hitherto unrecorded painting, shows a view based on the Roman Campagna, which may possibly be made up of elements drawn from life by Hackert.

Jacob Philippe Hackert is perhaps best known for his works carried out for King Ferdinand IV of Naples, for whom he became court painter in 1786. He was called to the Neapolitan court from Rome, where he had spent almost 20 years establishing himself as an accomplished landscape painter.

Dr. Claudia Nordhoff dates this painting to the latter half of this long stay in Rome. She notes that the costume of the shepherdess, with her headscarf which falls on her forehead in a point, is typical for the area surrounding Rome. The compositional structure of the present painting shows similarities with other works of the later 1770s. For example, his use of the tree at the far left with a broken branch along with the rocks, far right, is a structure he uses in other works of this date.

Whilst this picture is not signed, stylistic similarities are enough to confirm a firm attribution to Hackert. Dr. Nordhoff suggests that the absence of a signature may be explained by the fact that this is a work carried out by the artist without a specific commission and done solely for his use. Hackert worked closely from nature and used many sketches executed on the spot. He gave instructions for this practice in his treatise on landscape painting:

'Nothing is more pleasant both in nature and in drawings and paintings than a beautiful tree, with some rocks or stones or other trees in the middle ground [...] After this [the young painter] should draw rocks, which should be covered with trees or bushes, and he must take care for the different character of the sections of the rocks: lime-stones can be very different from one another and volcanic rocks have a quite special character in shape and colour. [He should draw] stones pieces of rocks, herbs different in species and size, and smaller and larger leaves that can serve for foregrounds'.

Hackert's fascination with such elements of nature in forming attractive and convincing landscapes is visible in the present work. Nordhoff suggests that the rocks in this painting are drawn from life and that Hackert's interest in geology and other aspects of nature is exemplified in this work.

We are grateful to Dr. Claudia Nordhoff for her kind assistance with this catalogue entry and for confirming the attribution to Hackert, on the basis of colour photographs.