Jacob Philipp Hackert (15 September 1737 – 28 April 1807) was a landscape painter from Brandenburg, who did most of his work in Italy.

Biography

Hackert was born in 1737 in

Prenzlau Prenzlau (, formerly also Prenzlow) is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, the administrative seat of Uckermark District. It is also the centre of the historic Uckermark region. Geography The town is located on the Ucker river, about north of Be ...

in the

Margraviate of Brandenburg The Margraviate of Brandenburg (german: link=no, Markgrafschaft Brandenburg) was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806 that played a pivotal role in the history of Germany and Central Europe. Brandenburg developed out ...

(now in Germany). He trained with his father Philipp (a portraitist and painter of animals) and his uncle, before going to the

Prussian Academy of Arts The Prussian Academy of Arts (German: ''Preußische Akademie der Künste'') was a state arts academy first established in Berlin, Brandenburg, in 1694/1696 by prince-elector Frederick III, in personal union Duke Frederick I of Prussia, and la ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

in 1758. Later he traveled to

Swedish Pomerania Swedish Pomerania ( sv, Svenska Pommern; german: Schwedisch-Pommern) was a dominion under the Swedish Crown from 1630 to 1815 on what is now the Baltic coast of Germany and Poland. Following the Polish War and the Thirty Years' War, Sweden held ...

and

Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...

, at the invitation of Adolf Friedrich von Olthof, a Swedish government official and businessman. For a time, he lived with Von Olthof and painted decorative murals at his estate. He spent from 1765 to 1768 in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

with the Swiss artist

Balthasar Anton Dunker Balthasar Anton Dunker (15 January 1746, Saal – 2 April 1807, Bern) was a German landscape painter and etcher. Biography He was the eldest son of pastor Albert Andreas Duncker (1706–1781) and his second wife, Sophie Dorothea von Olthof ( ...

, where he focused on painting in

gouache Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouache ...

. He met and was inspired by

Claude Joseph Vernet Claude-Joseph Vernet (14 August 17143 December 1789) was a French painter. His son, Antoine Charles Horace Vernet, was also a painter. Life and work Vernet was born in Avignon. When only fourteen years of age he aided his father, Antoine Verne ...

, who was already famous as a painter of landscapes and seascapes, and the German engraver

Johann Georg Wille Johann Georg Wille, or Jean Georges Wille (5 November 1715, near Biebertal - 5 April 1808, Paris) was a German-born copper engraver, who spent most of his life in France. He also worked as an art dealer. Life and work He was the eldest of sev ...

. In 1768 Hackert left Paris with his brother Georg, and went to Italy, basing himself mainly in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

and

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...

, where he produced many works for Sir William Hamilton. He travelled all over Italy, gaining a reputation as a talented landscape painter. He became famous everywhere in Europe due to his works for

Catherine the Great , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anha ...

, the cycle of paintings about

Battle of Chesma The naval Battle of Chesme took place on 5–7 July 1770 during the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) near and in Çeşme (Chesme or Chesma) Bay, in the area between the western tip of Anatolia and the island of Chios, which was the site of a numb ...

, and

Pope Pius VI Pope Pius VI ( it, Pio VI; born Count Giovanni Angelo Braschi, 25 December 171729 August 1799) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 February 1775 to his death in August 1799. Pius VI condemned the French Revoluti ...

. In 1786 he went to work for

Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies Ferdinand I (12 January 1751 – 4 January 1825) was the King of the Two Sicilies from 1816, after his restoration following victory in the Napoleonic Wars. Before that he had been, since 1759, Ferdinand IV of the Kingdom of Naples and Ferdinand I ...

in Naples. He advised on the creation of a painting restoration laboratory at the

Museo di Capodimonte Museo di Capodimonte is an art museum located in the Palace of Capodimonte, a grand Bourbon palazzo in Naples, Italy. The museum is the prime repository of Neapolitan painting and decorative art, with several important works from other Italia ...

, suggesting the call from Rome to the court of Naples of the restorer and supervised the transfer of the Farnese collections from Rome to Naples. As court painter realised famous pictures of

Caserta Caserta () is the capital of the province of Caserta in the Campania region of Italy. It is an important agricultural, commercial, and industrial '' comune'' and city. Caserta is located on the edge of the Campanian plain at the foot of the Ca ...

and the

Royal Palace of Caserta The Royal Palace of Caserta ( it, Reggia di Caserta ) is a former royal residence in Caserta, southern Italy, constructed by the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies as their main residence as kings of Naples. It is the largest palace erected in Europ ...

, besides the paintings series of the Bourobon's ports. During this period he acted also as a secret informant of Russia, his contact being the Russian diplomat

Andrey Razumovsky Count (later Prince) Andrey Kirillovich Razumovskyrussian: Андре́й Кири́ллович Разумо́вский, , german: Andreas von Rasumofsky (2 November 1752 – 23 September 1836) was a Russian Imperial diplomat who spent man ...

. When

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as tr ...

visited Naples in 1786, he and Hackert became friends. Hackert had settled in a house in

Posillipo Posillipo (; nap, Pusilleco ) is an affluent residential quarter of Naples, southern Italy, located along the northern coast of the Gulf of Naples. From the 1st century BC the Bay of Naples witnessed the rise of villas constructed by elite Roma ...

. The painters

Salvatore Fergola Salvatore Fergola (Naples, 24 April 1799 - Naples, 7 March 1874) was an Italian painter, mainly of landscapes or vedute in and around his native Naples. He is considered an exponent of the School of Posillipo. Biography He was born in Naples. ...

and Salvatore Giusti (1773-1845) were among his pupils. In 1799, when Naples was declared the Parthenopaean Republic, Hackert lost much of his royal patronage. He moved to

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the ci ...

and then

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

. He bought an estate in San Pietro di Careggi, near Florence, and he died there in 1807 and was buried in the so-called "Dutch garden" of

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronou ...

. His remains were then moved to the actual cemetery of the Dutch-German Congregation." German-Dutch Cemetery Ossuary", on Leghorn Merchant Networks Blog, by Matteo Giunti He never married and lived a good part of his life with one of his brothers but he had affairs with some married women, and from one of them he probably had a daughter.

wrote the first biography of Hackert in 1811.

Selected works

File:Jakob Philipp Hackert - Ansicht der Albaner Berge (1772).jpg, ''A view across the Alban Hills a hilltop on the right and the sea in the far distance'' File:Hackert, Feuerwerk auf der Engelsburg in Rom, 1775.jpg, ''Feuerwerk auf der Engelsburg in Rom'', 1775 Image:Jacob Philipp Hackert 004.jpg, ''Italian landscape'', 1778 File:1805 Hackert Arkadische Landschaft anagoria.JPG, ''Arcadian Landscape'', 1805 File:Mietitura_a_Carditello,_Hackert_001.jpg, '' Harvest Time at Carditello'', 1791 File:Hackert, Carl Ludwig - Mer de Glace Montanvert (no frame).jpg, ''Mer de Glace'', 1781

References

Bibliography

* Wolfgang Krönig, ''Jakob Philipp Hackert: der Landschaftsmaler der Goethezeit'', Cologne 1994. * Claudia Nordhoff with Hans Reimer, ''Jakob Philipp Hackert 1737-1807. Verzeichnis seiner Werke'', Berlin 1994. * Thomas Weidner, ''Jakob Philipp Hackert. Landschaftsmaler im 18. Jahrhundert, Bd. 1'', Berlin 1998. * Cesare de Seta and Claudia Nordhoff, ''Hackert'', Naples, 2005. * Claudia Nordhoff, ''Hackert Briefe 1761-1806'', Göttingen 2012.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hackert, Jacob Philipp 1737 births 1807 deaths People from Prenzlau People from the Margraviate of Brandenburg 18th-century German painters 18th-century German male artists German male painters 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists 18th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 19th-century Italian painters Landscape artists Italian vedutisti 19th-century Italian male artists 18th-century Italian male artists