Jakop Philipp Hackert was the most respected landscape painter of early German classicism. Thanks to his Italian landscapes, he enjoyed great popularity not only among travelers to Italy, but also among the European nobility. Goethe held him in high esteem. Jakop Philipp Hackert's artistic career began in the workshop of his painter family. In 1758, his training took him to the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin. Two vedute of the year 1761 brought him attention and an invitation of the Swedish government council Adolf Friedrich von Olthof to Stralsund, Rügen and Stockholm for the picturesque decoration of the town house and the manor house Boldevitz. The years 1765-1768 in Paris, especially the acquaintance with the French landscape and marine painter Claude Joseph Vernet (1714-1789) and with the engraver Johann Georg Wille (1715-1808). Journeys to Normandy and Picardy followed, and in 1768 to Italy with his brother. In Rome and Naples, his acquaintance with the art patrons Johann Friedrich Reiffenstein and William Hamilton quickly helped him to international fame. The success was reflected in numerous commissions from the European nobility.
In 1771/72, commissioned by the Russian empress, Jakop Philipp Hackert created 12 paintings of the naval battle in Cesme, and in 1786 he became court painter to King Ferdinand IV of Naples. However, he gained general reputation as a painter, draftsman and etcher of Italian landscapes, which he created during his travels throughout Italy. In addition to landscape vedute, often of the same place in numerous variations of the motif and repetitions of compositional schemes, he also drew ancient excavation sites, Mount Etna and the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. His works were popular with travelers as souvenirs and were widely distributed through the engravings of his brother George. Hackert found a special friend and admirer in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. He had already become aware of the artist in 1783 through two landscapes in the possession of the Duke of Gotha, in whom he particularly appreciated his conscientiousness and structure in the reproduction of nature. Artistry, diligence and patience combined with a cheerful disposition also won Hackert Goethe's personal admiration. The year 1786 brought the two together as Neapolitan court artists and saw Hackert for a time as the great poet's drawing teacher. The latter henceforth collected the friend's works and published a posthumous biography in 1811.
Hackert's landscape views are topographically accurate, the structure strictly classicist, the painting style dry, almost devoid of any mood. This met the need of Italian tourism for detailed renderings more than the free composition of the heroic landscapes of his Roman colleagues, and explains part of his success. Goethe elevated him to an instructive ideal for his successors, who, however, with the onset of Romanticism pursued an entirely different conception of landscape. As a result of the Lazzaroni uprising, Hackert fled Naples via Livorno and Pisa to Florence, where he died on his estate in 1807.
Jakop Philipp Hackert was the most respected landscape painter of early German classicism. Thanks to his Italian landscapes, he enjoyed great popularity not only among travelers to Italy, but also among the European nobility. Goethe held him in high esteem. Jakop Philipp Hackert's artistic career began in the workshop of his painter family. In 1758, his training took him to the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin. Two vedute of the year 1761 brought him attention and an invitation of the Swedish government council Adolf Friedrich von Olthof to Stralsund, Rügen and Stockholm for the picturesque decoration of the town house and the manor house Boldevitz. The years 1765-1768 in Paris, especially the acquaintance with the French landscape and marine painter Claude Joseph Vernet (1714-1789) and with the engraver Johann Georg Wille (1715-1808). Journeys to Normandy and Picardy followed, and in 1768 to Italy with his brother. In Rome and Naples, his acquaintance with the art patrons Johann Friedrich Reiffenstein and William Hamilton quickly helped him to international fame. The success was reflected in numerous commissions from the European nobility.
In 1771/72, commissioned by the Russian empress, Jakop Philipp Hackert created 12 paintings of the naval battle in Cesme, and in 1786 he became court painter to King Ferdinand IV of Naples. However, he gained general reputation as a painter, draftsman and etcher of Italian landscapes, which he created during his travels throughout Italy. In addition to landscape vedute, often of the same place in numerous variations of the motif and repetitions of compositional schemes, he also drew ancient excavation sites, Mount Etna and the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. His works were popular with travelers as souvenirs and were widely distributed through the engravings of his brother George. Hackert found a special friend and admirer in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. He had already become aware of the artist in 1783 through two landscapes in the possession of the Duke of Gotha, in whom he particularly appreciated his conscientiousness and structure in the reproduction of nature. Artistry, diligence and patience combined with a cheerful disposition also won Hackert Goethe's personal admiration. The year 1786 brought the two together as Neapolitan court artists and saw Hackert for a time as the great poet's drawing teacher. The latter henceforth collected the friend's works and published a posthumous biography in 1811.
Hackert's landscape views are topographically accurate, the structure strictly classicist, the painting style dry, almost devoid of any mood. This met the need of Italian tourism for detailed renderings more than the free composition of the heroic landscapes of his Roman colleagues, and explains part of his success. Goethe elevated him to an instructive ideal for his successors, who, however, with the onset of Romanticism pursued an entirely different conception of landscape. As a result of the Lazzaroni uprising, Hackert fled Naples via Livorno and Pisa to Florence, where he died on his estate in 1807.
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