3003 - CASPAR WOLF

CASPAR WOLF (Muri 1735–1783 Heidelberg) Das grosse Panorama der Alpen und Gletscher. 1774–77. Oil on canvas. 54.5 × 82.5 cm. Provenance: - Keukenhof, Lisse. - Collection of Dr Hans Lacher, Blonay. - Thence by descent in the family. Exhibited: - Lenzburg 1961, Caspar Wolf 1735–1783. Der Maler der Alpen, Galerie Rathausgasse, 18 March–16 April 1961, no. 11. - Tokyo and Chur 1977, Die Alpen in der Schweizer Malerei, Odakyn Grand Gallery, 23 March–19 April 1977; Bündner Kunstmuseum, 5 June–21 August 1977, no. 13. Literature: - Exhibition catalogue Die Alpen in der Schweizer Malerei, Tokyo and Chur 1977, p. 65 (ills. 5 and 14). - Willi Raeber: Caspar Wolf 1735–1783. Sein Leben und sein Werk, Zurich and Aarau 1979, p. 243, no. 248 (ill.). Caspar Wolf was one of the great pioneers of European Alpine painting. During the 18th century, perceptions of the high mountains underwent a fundamental transformation. In the late Baroque period, the Swiss Alps were still regarded as an inaccessible, terrifying place, supposedly haunted by the dreaded ‘Draco Helveticus’. The Bernese polymath Albrecht von Haller played a decisive part in changing this view with his poem ‘Die Alpen’, published in 1732, in which he celebrated the mountains as an earthly paradise and a refuge of freedom. Influenced by this new understanding of nature, Wolf was among the first artists to devote himself intensively to depicting the high Alpine landscape. From 1773 onwards, he made repeated journeys into the Swiss Alps on behalf of the Bernese publisher Abraham Wagner, studying glaciers, rock formations and waterfalls directly from nature. These observations formed the basis of a distinctive approach to landscape painting, combining faithful observation with carefully constructed compositions. This artistic freedom is particularly evident in ‘Das grosse Panorama der Alpen und Gletscher’. Wolf brings together geographically distant sites in an idealised Alpine landscape. On the left are the Devil’s Bridge in the Schöllenen Gorge and the mighty Grindelwald Glacier; on the right, the cliffs of the Lauterbrunnen Valley and the Staubbach Falls frame the composition. Between them rise monumental mountain ranges, some covered in snow, whose rugged contours and precipitous rock faces heighten the drama of the scene. These individual features are united in an impressive panorama that does not correspond to their actual geographical positions. In the foreground, small groups of travellers, artists and naturalists have gathered to explore the vast landscape. Their diminutive figures emphasise the scale of the mountains, while they themselves seem like spectators at a magnificent spectacle of nature. The idea of the Alps as a spectacle is also reflected in the title of the colour engraving ‘Le Grand Théâtre des Alpes et Glaciers’, produced by Jean-François Janinet after the present painting. The print served as the prestigious opening plate of the series ‘Vues remarquables des montagnes de la Suisse’. A watercolour preparatory drawing for the composition is now held by the Zentralbibliothek Zürich. * The full tax is charged on this item marked *, i.e. VAT is charged on the sum will be refunded to Purchasers providing a validly stamped export declaration.