Overview

Today, the collecting and study of eighteenth-century German drawings has become a major focus for museums around the world. One of the finest collections, however, has been in California for 150 years. The superb drawings collected at The Crocker Art Museum, ranging from a Baroque altarpiece designed by Johann Georg Bergmüller to a Neoclassical mythology by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, are exceptionally well preserved and provide a panorama of German draftsmen and draftsmanship throughout the eighteenth century. The Splendor of Germany gathers a variety of dynamic landscapes, sensitive portraits, charming scenes of daily life, and religious and mythological narratives from the late Baroque to Neoclassicism. Published to coincide with the museum collection's 150th anniversary, this book collects seventy-five outstanding pieces from the exhibition in a commemorative volume.

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9781911300779

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Reviews

This catalogue provides an intriguing glimpse into the range and importance of drawing to German-speaking artists of the late eighteenth century. Its assiduous scholarship will make it an indispensable addition to the shelves. -- Journal 18 Many of the drawings are remarkable for their modernity. A self-portrait by Johann Gottlieb Prestel bypasses convention to achieve a direct, unmediated likeness. Well-placed slashes with brush and black ink define the features below his peruke outlined in black chalk. Other drawings encapsulate specific developments and styles, such as Johann Wolfgang Baumgartner's Lazarus and the Rich Man, which shows the florid dynamism of the Augsburg Rococo. A full range of eighteenth-century German artists are represented here. . . . The catalogue gather[s] together a variety of dynamic and sensitive portraits, charming scenes of daily life, and often humorous moralizing subjects, as well as narratives, both religious and mythological, from the late Baroque to Neoclassicism. In the realm of landscape, the depth of the collection allows the exhibition to trace schools and influences. -- Art Daily

Many of the drawings are remarkable for their modernity. A self-portrait by Johann Gottlieb Prestel bypasses convention to achieve a direct, unmediated likeness. Well-placed slashes with brush and black ink define the features below his peruke outlined in black chalk. Other drawings encapsulate specific developments and styles, such as Johann Wolfgang Baumgartner's Lazarus and the Rich Man, which shows the florid dynamism of the Augsburg Rococo. A full range of eighteenth-century German artists are represented here. . . . The catalogue gather[s] together a variety of dynamic and sensitive portraits, charming scenes of daily life, and often humorous moralizing subjects, as well as narratives, both religious and mythological, from the late Baroque to Neoclassicism. In the realm of landscape, the depth of the collection allows the exhibition to trace schools and influences. -- Art Daily

Author Information

William Breazeale is curator at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, California. Anke Fröhlich-Schauseil is a specialist in German art in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, particularly in Saxony. She has published monographs on Johann Christian Klengel, Johann Sebastian Bach the Younger, Christoph Nathe, and Johann Eleazar Zeissig.

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