Page 67 - Gallery 19C Nazarenes Catalogues

2 6 PROVENANCE
Franz Ittenbach Private collection, Germany
GER M AN, 1813–1879 Sale, Van Ham, Cologne,
20 November 2009, lot 327
MADONNA IN THE ROSE GARDEN Private Collection, California
signed F. Ittenbach and dated 1860 (lower left) oil on canvas (acquired at the above sale)
19 ¹/₄ by 11 ³/4 in. (49 by 30 cm)

He was the ultimate Madonnenmaler (painter of Madonnas), his first Given the success of the 1848 Queen of Heaven with critics and congregation But was it indeed our Queen of Heaven who had travelled to France? Cat. 6a Franz Ittenbach, Queen of Heaven with the Christ Child,
biographer insisted, and Empress Eugénie (1826–1920) agreed. ¹ alike, it is hardly surprising that she, like several of Ittenbach’s Marian The answer is not an easy one. The price of “1700 fr.” listed for Ittenbach’s flanked by the Saints Remigius and Ludwig of Toulouse, 1858,
Among the few artworks she had chosen for her bedrooms, a Madonna with pictures before, travelled to France, where she crowned the Salon of reine des cieux in the 1860 exhibition catalogue certainly befits a medium- oil on canvas, life-size, formerly St. Remigius, Bonn.
Christ Child by Franz Ittenbach (1818–1879) had pride of place above her 1859. ⁷ Admittedly, not everybody was pleased. The critic of the Gazette des size format. But as the catalogue does not provide measurements or
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bed. ² Indeed, as the decades passed, Ittenbach’s fame as Mary’s modern Beaux-Arts, for example, complained that this Virgin was neither German, materials, let alone descriptions or illustrations, an exact match of the item Cat. 6b Stefan Lochner, Madonna of the Rose Bower, c. 1440–1442, oil on
portraitist even eclipsed his notable reputation as a fresco painter and one neither Italian, neither French, neither Gothic, neither Renaissance, neither listed and existing works is impossible. The title, on the other hand, is too oak panel, 50.5 × 40 cm, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud,
of the four “painters of St. Apollinaris,” a newly erected church, which, modern. “The devout imagery of the Rue Saint-Jacques,” he snorted, imprecise to provide a definite point of reference, and even Ittenbach’s Cologne
towering high above the Rhine, had quickly transformed after the murals’ “took hold of this type; art has willingly abandoned itself to it.” ⁸ first biographer, Heinrich Finke (1855–1938), could not identify the various
completion in 1853 from sheer pilgrimage site to international tourist His counterpart at Le Correspondent, however, disagreed. The “large Himmelsköniginnen born around 1860 beyond a reasonable doubt. In France, ¹ Finke 1911.
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destination. By the fin-de-siècle, Franz Ittenbach was widely regarded as altarpiece” was a work “of excellent religious feeling,” and the head of moreover, the picture seems to have circulated under two different, ² McQueen 2011, 187-188.
one of the century’s foremost practitioners of modern devotional art. Saint Louis “a study worthy of the brush of our Lesueur.” ⁹ The public if similar titles, la reine des cieux and la reine de ciel (whereby both could ³ Le Corrrespondant 1859, 275.
sided with the Correspondent, and Ittenbach banked on the success when also refer to further replicas or variants not yet documented). Matters ⁴ Biedermann 2001, no. 60, 152-154.
Among his most popular inventions was the revival of a medieval motif, the he repeated the central motif—now set alone—two years later. are further complicated by a second version that surfaced on the art
Queen of Heaven. His image of the Virgin Mary enthroned in full regalia, an market in 2021. Also signed and also dated 1860, both works are almost ⁵ Kreuzberg 1911, 19.
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elaborate crown on the soft golden locks, drew directly on local traditions Once the Saints had stepped aside, the Düsseldorf painter could fully identical except for the support’s material, which in the second, minimally ⁶ Ibid.
and the epitome of the International Gothic, the so-called Cologne indulge, as he liked to, in a close-up rendering of fauna and flora. Placing smaller version is panel, not canvas. As everything points to both being ⁷ Salon de 1859, no. 1579, with reference to the picture’s future destination at
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School (see Cat. 6b). His first version, a monumental pala in the manner the heavenly throne in a lush garden, he thus transformed his trend- authentic works by Ittenbach’s hand, this doubling—while proving the “Saint Remi, Bonn (Prusse).”
of Perugino, showed the Queen of Heaven flanked by Saint Remigius and setting composition into a Madonna in the Rose Bower (Cat. 6b). The effect composition’s noteworthy success—presents a formidable conundrum. ⁸ Paul Mantz (1821–1895); Mantz 1859, 357-358.
Saint Ludwig of Toulouse. ³ The work had been commissioned by the is charming, and played to his talent of marrying Italian and Northern When it comes to question, however, which one might have won the medal ⁹ “Lesueur” refers to Eustache Le Sueur (1617–1655);
Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, after Ittenbach had won the Renaissance, of creating a sweet fusion of mellifluous outlines, idealized in Besançon, a decisive clue can be found on the back of our version in Le Corrrespondant 1859, 275.
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art union’s 1856 competition to replace the existing altar of a 13 -century forms and meticulous nature observation. At the same time, he adapted form of a seal applied by French customs to the canvas on its way to Paris. ¹⁰ Becker 1888, 124.
Minorite church in Bonn. ⁴ The result was a modern sacra conversazione (see the scale to the much smaller, more intimate format of early Renaissance Here, it must have been received by the Düsseldorf publisher August
Fig. 19), which, completed in 1858, presented a regal but rather solemn devotional imagery, which suited his motif as much as his desire to Wilhelm Schulgen (1814–1880), who had just recently, in 1854, opened ¹² Castan / Delacroix 1860, 217.
Madonna, whose divine son faces us in a gesture both welcoming and market his imagery to a broader audience. Once again, the critique a second dependance on the rue Saint-Sulpice 25 in the French capital. ¹³ Tainturier 1860, 113.
anticipatory of his future death on the cross. Most viewers, however, reacted overwhelmingly positive, applauding the picture’s careful, delicate The catalogue entry mentions Schulgen, who in Besançon represented ¹⁴ Exposition universelle de Besançon 1860, 8, no. 28.
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shied away from the picture’s unmistakable iconographic evocation of execution and “most tender loveliness.” Naturally, Ittenbach’s latest all but one of the Prussian artists exhibited that year, explicitly as ¹⁵ Finke 1911, 91.
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the Passion. Re-imagining the pensive child as “friendly smiling,” they “suave et radieuse Vierge,” too, toured France. This time, the Gazette des consignor. This is where the trail goes cold. How the painting subsequently ¹⁶ Lempertz, Colgne. Auction 1185 Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture 14 -19 c. (20
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saw him “full of desire to take [us] into his outstretched arms.” ⁵ Likewise Beaux-Arts was head over heels. “The Madonna of Monsieur Ittenbach is returned to Germany will be a question for future investigators. November 2021), Lot 1684: Franz Ittenbach, The Madonna Enthroned with
they saw the Madonna’s features invested not only “with dignity, but also one of those jewels we never tire of admiring,” the magazine gushed on Child. Provenance: Belgian private collection.
with kindness and gentleness.” The style contributed to this reading, and September 20, 1860. “This queen of heaven is truly the queen of beauty.”
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especially “the finely thrown garment and melting harmonious coloring” The art judges of the Exposition universelle de Besançon concurred,
were lauded as “special merits of the Madonna painting in Bonn.” ⁶ and in 1860, the petite Madonna won her maker a much-coveted medal.

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