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Present. From the "Journey to Paris" ("Aus der Reise nach Paris") Series

Daniel Chodowiecki, Clemens Kohl

Basic information

ID: Г-IV-2839
Author: Daniel Chodowiecki Clemens Kohl
Name: Present. From the "Journey to Paris" ("Aus der Reise nach Paris") Series
Previous attributions: Reflections by the Portrait
Country: Austria
Technique: etching
Material: paper
Dimensions: 9 x 5.7 cm (height x width)

Additionally

Type: graphic art
Genre: genre art
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.

Information about author

Author: Clemens Kohl
Author in the original: Clemens Kohl, Kliment Kohl
Artist's lifetime: 1754–1807
Country: Czech Republic, Austria
Biography: Clemens (Kliment) Kohl (Czech – Kliment Kohl; 1754, Prague – 1807, Vienna) – a Czech-Austrian engraver, draftsman and illustrator. He graduated from the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. He illustrated books for various publishers and created copperplate engravings based on works by famous masters and his own sketches. Empress Maria Theresa appointed him as her drawing tutor and, later – as the Imperial and Royal Court Engraver.

Object description

This work is the final engraving in the "Journey to Paris" series. In an interior with paintings hanging on the walls, three figures stand by the table at the centre of the composition. A female artist in a light-coloured dress, wearing a bonnet, is holding a self-portrait she has just painted. She is about to present it to her travelling companion, with whom she undertook the journey to Paris. The man is depicted in travelling attire – a frock coat and boots; he is holding a wide-brimmed hat in his hand. Behind him stands another man, who has placed his hand on his companion's shoulder. Light streams in from the window on the left, creating chiaroscuro effects in the composition and highlighting the work's central theme – the gift of the self-portrait. The caption beneath the image explains the subject: "Dame beschenkt ihren Reisegefährten beim Abschied mit ihrem selbstgezeichneten Bildnis" – [A lady presents her travelling companion with a self-portrait as a parting gift].
The engraving was published in Becker's pocket almanac ("Becker's Taschenbuch / Almanach") for the years 1798–1799.

Inscriptions

Below the print, on the left, is the artist's engraved signature: "D. Chodowiecki del". On the right is the engraver's signature, along with the place and date: "Cl. Kohl sc. Viennae 1798". At the top right, above the print, is the Roman numeral "VI".

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Present. From the "Journey to Paris" ("Aus der Reise nach Paris") Series

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