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Description

C. METZ (1823-1895), Cypresses in Rome, 1853, Chalk

Cäsar Metz (1823 Mainz - 1895 Munich): Zypressen im Klosterhof Santa Maria degli Angeli in Rom, 1853, Chalk Technique: White heightened Chalk on Paper (blue) Inscription: lower left signed: "C. Metz". lower left dated: "Rom 1853". Date: 1853 Description: When one thinks of Italian cypresses in 19th century German art, the first thing that comes to mind are the famous specimens at the Villa d'Este in Tivoli. Ernst Fries, August Lucas, Johann Wilhelm Schirmer and Oswald Achenbach all took on the characteristic tree formation in this park and found an exemplary object of study in the densification of the foliage and the simultaneous spreading of the individual trunks, which is equally challenging due to its filigree complexity and voluminous mass arrangement. In this drawing, however, Caesar Metz is not showing the Tivoli cypresses, but those in the cloister courtyard of the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Rome. It was built into the remains of the Baths of Diocletian and was designed by Michelangelo. The central cypress in the garden courtyard of the Carthusian monastery is even said to have been planted by the master himself, which made the place interesting per se in the Renaissance-inspired 19th century.1 It is all the more surprising how rarely these cypresses, which have now been destroyed, were depicted in comparison with those from Tivoli. The most prominent example comes from the Danish artist Martinus Rørbye (1803-1848), who captured the cypresses in an elaborate oil sketch in 1841 (cf. fig. 6).2 However, Metz's unusually large-format drawing has a completely different emphasis than that of his colleague twelve years earlier. The trees do not appear embedded in the narrative context of the monastery walls, where they are the dominant motif but not autonomous. Rather, by completely dispensing with an embedding environment, Metz achieves a strong degree of abstraction in their isolation, focussing entirely on the interplay of lines and volumes in the trees. The fountain indicated in the foreground does little to clarify the scene, as it can only be recognised as such if its function is already known. This linear structure is also too abstract on its own. This separation lends the trees a monumental character that no longer requires a setting. As a tree with a characteristically tall and closed form, the cypress lent itself particularly well to this aspect of the picture presentation. At the same time, with its radical verticality and irregular, broken growth, it embodied a clear departure from the ideal of a landscape tree as favoured by painting since Poussin. It neither offers protection nor frames. The cypress tree is a foreign body in the ideal of the landscape, which is horizontal in format and staggered in depth in a balanced manner. It is therefore not surprising that Carl Blechen recognises ghost-like creatures rather than actual trees in its long branches and frayed, cloudy leaves. Although Caesar Metz does not tend in such a mystically charged direction in this work, the individual characteristics of the cypress trees also determine the way they are depicted. The unique presence of the character trees calls for a focussed presentation. |af| 1 Burckhardt 1941, p. 314. 2 Oil on paper, signed and dated: "M. R. Roma 1841.", 55 x 37 cm, Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, inv. no. 3106. | Watermark: "Fabriano" Keywords: 19th century, Romanticism, Nature, Italy, Rome (Latium), Size: Paper (blue): 56,0 cm x 47,8 cm (22 x 18,8 in), Frame: 78,0 cm x 64,0 cm (30,7 x 25,2 in)

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C. METZ (1823-1895), Cypresses in Rome, 1853, Chalk

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Estimate 3 300 - 4 400 EUR
Starting price  2200 EUR

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