Anton Joseph Koch

Lot 105 Joseph Anton Koch Obergiblen/Tyrol 1768 – 1839 Rome DAS LAUTERBRUNNENTAL NACH NORDEN 1794. Watercolour on paper. 23,2 x 36,6 cm (9 ⅛ x 14 ⅜ in.) Signed and dated in the lower center: P. Par Koch. 1794. Not in the catalogue raisonné by Lutterotti. - There is a preliminary pen drawing with watercolour created 1792 after nature (Lutterotti Z 653) at Akademie der bildenden Künste in Vienna (see Cornelia Reiter: Ideal und Natur. Zeichnungen und Aquarelle von Joseph Anton Koch und Johann Michael Wittmer. Bestandskatalog des Kupferstichkabinetts der Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien. Salzburg, Müry Salzmann Verlag, 2011, cat. no. 3) For our watercolour Koch found a more mature and executed rendering of the view of the Lauterbrunnental to the north. The incorporation of staffage figures "pictorially enhances" (von Holst) the scene. The addition of a second creek and the scrubland in the right foreground make it more dynamic.. In places minor discolouration. Firmly laid down on cardboard. EUR 16.000 – 20.000 US $ 20,700 – 25,900 We would like to thank Dr. Christian von Holst, Stuttgart, for kindly confirming the authenticity of the work and for providing additional information.

Josef Anton Koch (Obergiblen, Tirol 1768-1839 Rome) Villa Mattei, etching, c.1810, from the series "Römische Ansichten" (Roman views), 16,7 x 23,1 cm, with broad margins along platemarks, Andresen 17 III, mounted, unframed, (Sch) Provenance: Private collection, Germany. Splendid impression of the IIIrd state. Numbered at upper right. Some foxing, otherwise in good condition.

Josef Anton Koch (1768–1839) Rocca di S. Stefano di Mezzo, e Canturano, etching, on vellum, c. 1819, from the series “Roman views ”, titled, signed Koch fece. in the plate, 16,6 x 22,6 cm, with wide margins along platemarks, Andresen 14 III, mounted, unframed, (Sch) Provenance: Private collection, Germany. Splendid impression of state III, numbered 14 at right upper margin.

Joseph Anton Koch (Elbigenalp 1768-1839 Rome) Heroische Landschaft mit Regenbogen oil on canvas 29 x 23¾ in. (73.5 x 60.3 cm.) Painted in 1806 THE PROPERTY OF THE LATE CAESAR AND RUTH PINNAU (lots 27, 28,& 47) Private collection, Denmark. Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 18 March 1983, lot 117, whenacquired by Caesar Pinnau. G. Czymmek, E. Mai, et al, Heroismus und Idylle, Formen derLandschaft um 1800 bei Jacob Philipp Hackert, Joseph Anton Koch undJohann Christian Reinhart, Cologne, 1984, p. 92, no. 72,illustrated. O. von Lutterotti, Joseph Anton Koch, 1768-1839, Leben und Werk,Munich-Vienna, 1985, pp. 53, 284, no. G10A, illustrated. C. von Holst, Joseph Anton Koch, Ansichten der Natur, in theexhibition catalogue, Stuttgart, 1989, pp. 215-217, no.77. Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie, Joseph Anton Koch, Ansichten derNatur, 26 August-29 October 1989, no. 77. This painting is the second of one of four variants of an iconiccomposition which define Koch's reputation as a landscape painterwho infused the classical tradition of landscape painting with thespirituality of German Romanticism. Although Koch referred to these landscapes as 'Greek', they wereclearly inspired by the landscapes of Italy. Describing the settingof this series to his English patron, the collector John Nott, Kochwrote: 'It is an area as one would imagine Ancient Greece. I foundthe motif in the beautiful surroundings of Salerno on the way toPaestum, with antique towns bathed in striking light. One can seethe sea with mountains in shades of blue in the background.Shepherds and shepherdesses are shown partly in shadow, and partlyin brilliant sun.' Koch is considered one of the most important of the Nazarenes, agroup of Rome-based German artists who sought to purify art througha combination of medievalism and a highly linear style expressed inmostly religious subjects. In truth, however, Koch's style andoutlook is less ascetic and one-dimensional than that of his peersand, as the present painting attests, combine neo-classicalprinciples with a modern Romanticism, in which nature acts as avehicle for the expression of spiritual and religous themes. Theseelements are brought together most successfully in Koch's 'heroiclandscapes', a genre he pioneered with his friend Johann ChristianReinhart, which heightens 'the grandeur and structural clarity ofclassical Italianate landscapes in the tradition of NicolasPoussin, Claude Lorrain and Gaspard Dughet' (M. Cheetham, in TheDictionary of Art, London, 1996, 18, p. 182), and finds its epitomein the present composition. As in the other variants, the defining feature of this compositionis the rainbow, a clearly religious symbol, which Koch paintedfrequently, including in its most obvious context of Noah after theflood. As in paintings of the Deluge, the rainbow represents God'scovenant with man. Most importantly, however, the rainbow'ssymbolic significance is reinforced by its compositional functionas the upper half of an oval which continues clockwise over theline of the bushes in the right foreground, and sweeps upwards overthe heads of the goats and shepherds to come full circle along thebranches of the tree on the far left, its branches pointingskywards. The oval encircles both Heaven and Earth, nature and man,the classical past and the Christian present, literally reflectingGod's dominion over all things, and a quasi-mystical unity whichbinds all things together. This subliminal perspective subsumes objects and temporaldimensions into a single whole and is typical of GermanRomanticism, but more subtly conveyed than in the more obviouslyemotive canvases of later artists such as Caspar David Friedrich.Koch's spiritual message is tempered by its reference to classicalantecedents and by a crisper, more linear style, which results in aclarity of light very different to the more suffused atmosphereevident in the paintings of later German Romantics. The earliest version of this composition was executed in 1805 andis now in the Staatliche Kunsthalle in Karlsruhe; the third,largest version (fig. 1), today in Munich's Neue Pinakothek, wasbegun in 1804 but not completed until 1815; while the last version,executed in 1824, is today in a private collection. There is also ahighly finished drawing of the composition in the GermanischesNationalmuseum in Nuremberg (fig. 2), which is generally dated to1806 -- the year of the present work.

Josef Anton Koch (Germany 1768-1839) A river landscape with anglers, horsemen and a fortress in the background, pencil on paper, 15 x 23 cm, mounted, framed, (Sch) Provenance: Sir Henry Acland; Sir Richard Acland, Bt, his sale, Sotheby’’’’s 15th November 1973; Sabin Galleries. Sir Henry Acland was a close friend and colleague of John Ruskin in Oxford, with whom he established the Slade Professorship of Art.