Jacob Philipp Hackert

Jacob Philipp Hackert Fisherman with boat on the beach Oil on canvas. 74 x 99 cm. Signed and dated lower left: J. Ph-Hackert f. 1772. Provenance Mme. Vassiliev, Christie's, London, 31.7.1930, lot 289 - Galerie W. Gräf, Munich. - Georg Schäfer Collection, Schweinfurt. - Christie's, Düsseldorf, 31.1.2000, lot 37 - Rhenish private collection. Literature C. Nordhoff / H. Reimer: Jakob Philipp Hackert, Verzeichnius seiner Werke, 1994, p. 29, no. 74. Jacob Philipp Hackert was in his fourth year in Italy and had recently been on his way to Europe-wide fame when he painted "Fishermen with Boat on the Beach" in 1772. His landscape and coastal views were particularly successful: gouaches painted in France in 1768 found a prominent buyer in François Boucher, among others, and three years later he produced a whole cycle of sea battles, for which Tsarina Catherine II reserved a separate room in Peterhof Palace. Hackert's views of coasts and boats in Italy, on the other hand, radiate peaceful tranquillity. On the coasts beyond the Grand Tour end point of Naples, which had only just been discovered by travelers, Hackert found respite after recovering from illness. In his paintings from this period, the necessary balanced mood can be found. After their work was done, the fishermen are back with full baskets, looking forward to the end of the day.