UK
Back

Death Sentence of Konradin of Swabia and Friedrich of Austria

Daniel Chodowiecki

  • Death Sentence of Konradin of Swabia and Friedrich of Austria 1
  • Death Sentence of Konradin of Swabia and Friedrich of Austria 2
  • Death Sentence of Konradin of Swabia and Friedrich of Austria 1
  • Death Sentence of Konradin of Swabia and Friedrich of Austria 2
Basic information
ID
Г-IV-2707
Author
Daniel Chodowiecki
Name
Death Sentence of Konradin of Swabia and Friedrich of Austria
Country
Germany
Technique
etching
Material
paper
Dimensions
8.6 x 5.1 cm (height x width)
Additionally
Type
engraving
Genre
history painting
Provenance
Purchased from O. Bushel, 1977
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
A work from the series "Ancient, Medieval and Modern History" ("Ältere, Mittlere und Neuere Geschichte"). The artist has depicted a historical event that took place in Naples in 1268. Following a victorious battle, Charles I of Anjou, King of Naples and Sicily, took his enemies – two young dukes – captive: the 16-year-old Konradin of Hohenstaufen, Duke of Swabia, and the 18-year-old Frederick of Baden (of Austria). Konradin had launched a campaign against Charles to defend his legitimate claims to Sicily. However, he lost the battle, after which Charles put the young men on trial, summoning lawyers from many Italian cities. Although a number of judges were opposed to the death sentence, the king forced them to pass it.
To illustrate this shameful event, Daniel Chodowiecki depicted Charles, wearing a robe and crown, seated at a table in the centre of the composition. With his hands resting on the table, the monarch looks at a young knight, shown from behind – presumably Duke Konradin – and pronounces the sentence. Standing next to Konradin is an older man who bears no resemblance to the young Frederick. At the table to the king's right is a scribe writing down the verdict on a sheet of paper. Behind the royal throne stand three figures of varying ages. The scene takes place in front of a window within an interior featuring a Gothic vaulted ceiling. This is Castel dell'Ovo, where trials were held in medieval Naples. Above the window is a cartouche, on whose oval shield are depicted scales with weights as a symbol of a fair trial.
Inscriptions
On the reverse of the sheet, there is an illegible inscription in pencil in German cursive, in Kurrent script. Only individual words and phrases can be deciphered: "d. Ueberschreitungen"; "d. linken Beine d. rechts"; "stehenden 2 Ritter". Below, the inventory number of the Lviv Picture Gallery is indicated in pencil.
Legal regulation
Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Other

Link copied