6186 - Jacob the Younger, Julius

Jacob the Younger, Julius Evening Scene at Hafenplatz in Berlin. Oil on canvas. 114 x 169 cm. Signed "Jul. Jacob" lower right and titled "Hafenplatz, Evening"; on two exhibition labels, it is again labeled “Julius Jacob, Hafenplatz (Evening) in Berlin,” and bears the customs label and the label from the Great Berlin Art Exhibition of 1911. Influenced by Carl Blechen and the Barbizon artists, Julius Jacob primarily painted landscapes of the Mark Brandenburg and Berlin’s Old Town. As a chronicler of his hometown, he depicted numerous urban developments around the turn of the century in an Impressionist style, sometimes repeating motifs. This painting is one such example. The view depicts the harbor basin of the Landwehr Canal near Potsdamer Platz, which has since been filled in and redesigned. The painting offers a view from the Schöneberger Bridge toward the Royal Railway Administration building on the left, the historic elevated railroad tracks in the background, and the bustling activity of boats and harbor tugs in the harbor basin on the right. Jacob had already depicted an earlier view of the same location on the Landwehr Canal as early as 1903 under the title “View of the Harbor Square in Berlin” (Exh. Cat., Great Berlin Art Exhibition, Berlin 1903, p. 117, with ill.). Our painting is an almost identical version; the composition is the same, but numerous details have been changed or added—including the boats in the foreground. Most telling is the tower still under construction in the background of our painting, which did not yet exist in the earlier harbor view. This urban development, evident from a direct comparison of the two works, wonderfully illustrates Jacob’s role as a chronicler. Today, his works are held, among other places, by the National Gallery in Berlin, including “Humboldt Harbor with Alexanderufer and Lehrter Station” (Inv. No. NG 8/64); another view of the Schöneberg waterfront, comparable to ours, was also part of the museum’s collection since 1895 (lost during the war in 1945). Exhibition: Great Berlin Art Exhibition 1911. Lit.: Exhibition catalog, Great Berlin Art Exhibition, Berlin, April 29–October 1, 1911, likely No. 202 (titled there as “Evening Mood”). - Please request condition reports for the lots, as the condition is usually not specified in the catalog. - Please ask for condition reports for individual lots, as the condition is usually not mentioned in the catalog.