Page 74 - Gallery 19C Nazarenes Catalogues

2 8 PROVENANCE EXHIBITED Lübeck, Behnhaus Estate, Johann LITERATURE
Friedrich Overbeck, 1789–1869:
Johann Friedrich Overbeck Martin Johann Jenisch the Lübeck, Benhaus Estate, Overbeck Zur zweihundertsten Wiederkehr Speckter 1846, vol. 1, 120
GER M AN, 1789 –1869 Younger, Hamburg, 1841 und sein Kreis, 1926, no. 231, 141 seines Geburtstages, 25 June– Franz Kugler, “Fragmentarisches
(commissioned from the
Altonaer Museum, Hamburg, 1971
über die Berliner Kunstausstellung
THE BANISHMENT OF HAGAR artist in 1830) (on permanent loan from Johann 3 September 1989, no.28, 152 vom Jahr 1836 [first in Museum,
signed with monogram F.O and dated 1841 (lower right) Thence by descent, Holland Freiherr von Jenisch) 1836, nos. 39 ff.], in Kugler
oil on canvas (and sold: Christie’s, London, Hamburg, Altonaer Museum, Die 1853–1854, vol. 3 (1854),
39 by 44 ³/4 in. (98 by 112.5 cm) 13 December 2016, lot 11) Gemäldesammlung des hamburgischen 169-198, here 177
Private Collection, California Senators Martin Johann Jenisch d. J. Howitt 1886, vol. 1, 139–143
(acquired at the above sale) (1793–1857), and vol. 2, 421
4 July-2 September, 1973, Boetticher 1891–1901,
no. 39, 27, 64 vol. II/1 (1898), no. 31, 200
Rome, Valle Giulia, Galleria Eberlein 1928, no. 16
Nazionale d‘Arte Moderna, Grewe 2000, 53, ill.
Nazareni a Roma, 22 January– Thimann 2001, 195 and 219
22 March 1981, no. 83, 130 (endnote 29)

At the height of his fame and artistic power, Johann Friedrich Overbeck Probably based on the scene’s (re)interpretation by Paul (Galatians 4:21- At the same time, the location of the house and collection mattered
turned to a theme of immense popularity in 19 -century Europe: the 24), Overbeck thus presented the story of Hagar, Sarah, Abraham and their beyond the confines of the city’s own haute volée. Overbeck’s decision
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expulsion of Hagar and her son Ishmael from the house of Abraham children as a parable of the two testaments, of Ecclesia and Synagogue. to stay in Rome had resulted in a notably international clientele, which,
(Genesis 21:14). The finished canvas would be exceptional for several in turn, meant that his work was scattered across the globe. For that
reasons. For one, it is one of his few biblical histories executed in oil. The canvas, without question a major work not only vis-à-vis Overbeck’s reason, Hagar’s Banishment occupied a special role in Germany, where it
On the other, it lives off a poetic mood hardly found in any other painting production, but late Romantic painting as well, had a long gestation time. was one of the few oil paintings by Overbeck to be seen in the original.
by the artist. At the same time, the canvas embodies some of Overbeck’s Its origins go all the way back to a studio visit in 1830 by Martin Johann
most cherished characteristics, such as a calm, contemplative interiority Jenisch the Younger (1793–1857), a wealthy merchant and influential One final word: The Banishment of Hagar is unquestionably one of the most
triumphant over the intense emotional charge of the biblical source. senator in Hamburg. The previous year, Jenisch and his wife had embarked important works by Johann Friedrich Overbeck that has appeared on
on the Grand Tour, mandatory for all of Europe’s High Society, with their the art market for decades. Paintings by Overbeck are extremely rare,
The expulsion seems to take place almost silently, the figures animated by minds set less on education but desirable purchases. Naturally, a work by a as he executed only a few works in oil and most of these are now owned
a peculiar devotion, the biblical landscape in the background glowing in leading Nazarene could not be missing from their list, and as soon as they by German museums and thus never again for sale. Equally unusual is
an expert old-masterly sfumato. With the picture’s future destination in reached Rome, the couple approached, predictably, Overbeck. For once, the picture’s impressive provenance. Not only did it remain in the same
mind, the private collection of a wealthy Hamburg client, Overbeck settled the painter happily accepted the commission, but things soon got off to a collection, started by Jenisch, for more than 150 years. This collection
on a typical gallery format, skillfully using the transverse rectangle to tell difficult start. Overbeck refused to send the senator a compositional sketch itself is among the few private painting collections amassed in 19 -
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the tale via the figures’ arrangement and gestures. Overbeck set a powerful because, as he told Jenisch, foreign judgment would disturb and inhibit century Germany that have come down to us mostly intact. As such,
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tone of resistance, to fate and the viewer’s gaze alike, by having Hagar him. In 1834, the cartoon was finally ready and exhibited two years later The Banishment of Hagar is among the most unique, and perhaps among
and Ishmael move to the left, away from the house, and thus against our at the biannual exhibition of the Berlin Academy; but, the picture itself the rarest, pieces of High Romanticism, sold in the 21st century.
reading direction. In a countermove, the same play with our conventional was still a long time coming. Only when Jenisch returned a second time to
reading direction assumes a conciliatory tone as it continues in the gesture Rome in 1838 and reiterated his desire (and claim), did Overbeck return
of Abraham’s left arm. The patriarch points to his wife, Sarah, crouching to Hagar’s Banishment and finally completed it in 1841. Once in Hamburg, the
on the ground with Isaac, the boy she had born at ninety years old, in her canvas immediately assumed a place of pride among the over 100 paintings ¹ Howitt 1886, vol. 2, 1392.
arms. Having just created a clear contrast of the two groups, Overbeck, a which by then adorned the Jenischs’s newly built country house, a marvel
Catholic convert himself, now transforms the Romantic program of the of Neoclassical architecture with an exquisite, rather Romantic view over
Lukasbund’s early days into a fundamental confessional decision. the Elbe. Finished in 1834, the same year as Härtel’s Roman House in
Hagar’s banishment becomes a typological image in which the replacement Leipzig (see Cat. 7), this villa suburbana had miraculously escaped the
of the Old by the New Covenant is at stake. The symbolism of plants—the bombings of World War II and today, with much of its original interior
fig tree as a sign for the nation of Israel, the vine a symbol of Christ’s intact, affords the visitor a vivid impression of the grand lives led by well-
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Passion—articulate this Supersessionist program as clearly as the to-do Hanseatic merchants in the middle of the 19 century.
allusion to a Madonna with Child in the image of Sarah and her son.

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