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Scene Depicting the Crusades (Robert of Paris Humiliates the Haughty Greek Emperor Alexius)

Daniel Chodowiecki

Basic information

ID: Г-IV-1211
Author: Daniel Chodowiecki
Name: Scene Depicting the Crusades (Robert of Paris Humiliates the Haughty Greek Emperor Alexius)
Date of creation: late 18th c.
Country: Germany
Technique: сopper engraving
Material: paper
Dimensions: 9.5 x 5.6 cm (height x width)

Additionally

Type: graphic art
Genre: history painting
Plot: The Crusades
Provenance: Collection of Boleslaw Orzechowicz Transferred by the Lviv State Republican Historical Museum by order of the Ministry of Culture of the Ukrainian SSR in February 1961

Information about author

Author: Daniel Chodowiecki
Artist's lifetime: 1726–1801
Country: Poland, Germany
Biography: Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki (1726, Gdańsk – 1801, Berlin) – a Polish-German artist, printmaker and painter, a master of etching and book illustration, a representative of the academic movement, and one of the leading exponents of sentimentalism in 18th-century German art.
The artist's father was a merchant, a descendant of a noble family. His mother came from a family of Swiss Huguenots. The young Daniel, continuing the family tradition, began working as a merchant. At the age of 17, he went to Berlin for a commercial apprenticeship, where he spent most of his life. Towards the end of his career, he became the director of the Prussian Academy of Arts (Preußische Akademie der Künste).
In the 1750s, the artist developed an interest in painting, and later in printmaking, becoming one of the leading book illustrators. Between 1770 and 1774, together with Johann Bernhard Basedow, the founder of the philanthropic movement in education, he worked on the four-volume publication "Elementary Textbook for Young People" ("Elementarwerk für die Jugend"). Chodowiecki created over 100 illustrations for it using the copper engraving technique, including some dedicated to the Crusades.
In 1781, the artist produced 12 illustrations for a play by Gustav Friedrich Wilhelm Großmann entitled "No More Than Six Dishes" ("Nicht mehr als sechs Schüsseln"). This comedy, with its strongly social-critical undertones, is considered one of the earliest outstanding dramatic works in German bourgeois literature.
Around 2,000 engravings by Chodowiecki on various subjects, executed in the techniques of etching and copper engraving, have survived to this day. One of his contemporaries wrote that, were it not for Chodowiecki's illustrations, countless books would never have found their readers. The artist created a large number of painted and graphic portraits, as well as genre scenes of burgher life, mostly executed in pen and ink. The total number of the artist's surviving drawings amounts to around 4,000.
Daniel Chodowiecki's works are held in Germany – at the Kupferstichkabinett (Museum of Prints and Drawings) in Berlin, the Museum of Fine Arts in Leipzig, and the Städel Museum in Frankfurt; in Poland – at the National Museum in Gdańsk; in Ukraine – at Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery, Vasyl Stefanyk Lviv National Scientific Library of Ukraine and the Kharkiv Art Museum, as well as in museums in Washington, Madrid and London.

Object description

When the Crusader forces arrived in Constantinople in 1096, Emperor Alexius I demanded that they swear an oath of fealty. The arrogant Western knights began to openly display their superiority. Count Robert of Paris even sat upon the imperial throne. The Basileus remained silent. Count Baldwin of Boulogne, the future King of Jerusalem, in order to avoid a scandal, forced Count Robert to apologise to the Byzantine Emperor.
The engraving depicts a scene inside the throne room. On the right, two figures are seated on the throne beneath a canopy. One of them is being seized by the elbow by a knight who has approached the throne from the left. This is Baldwin, who is forcing Robert to stand up so that he may apologise to the Basileus, seated on the right-hand side of the throne. Other knights have approached behind Baldwin.
One of the crusaders, depicted on the left, is kneeling before the steps leading up to the throne. Standing next to him are two men discussing the situation that has arisen. In the foreground, to the left of centre, is the figure of a man seen from behind, dressed in long, dark robes. He is holding something in his right hand, concealing the object behind his back. He may be a Byzantine official.

Inscriptions

Below the image is the inscription: "Robert von Paris demüthigt den Stolz/ des griechischen Kaisers Alexis". On the reverse, at the top, are the inventory numbers of the Lviv Picture Gallery. Below, in the centre, are the inscriptions: "Do wypraw Krzyżowych", "Jacob. 945/ E. 945/ 3615/ S.O.". At the bottom left is the round seal of the Lviv State Republican Historical Museum's holdings; on the right – the historical museum's inventory number.

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery