6656 - Morgenstern, Johann Ludwig Ernst

Morgenstern, Johann Ludwig Ernst [*] Church Interior: View into the interior of a three-nave Renaissance basilica. Pen and ink in black on sturdy honey-colored laid paper. 52.3 x 42 cm. Signed “J. L. E. Morgenstern fecit” in old hand in the lower left corner; inscribed “Cardinal Fesch, Rome” in pencil in the lower left corner of the illustration. Circa 1793. Johann Ludwig Ernst Morgenstern was particularly renowned in the 18th century for his masterful, richly detailed architectural and church interior depictions, a genre that experienced a new heyday in the second half of the 18th century. Following the examples of the 17th-century Dutch masters, the Frankfurt-based artist painted not only fascinating architectural renderings of imaginary churches but also contemporary portraits of regional churches. This drawing was accompanied by a corresponding painting as well as a pendant depicting the interior of a Baroque church; both were initially part of the Franz Siegert Collection and later in the gallery of Cardinal Joseph Fesch in Rome, as indicated by the handwritten note on our drawing. Provenance: Estate of Carl Morgenstern. Exhibition: “Raumwunder: Frankfurt Painters Discover the Church Interior, 1750–1850,” Frankfurt am Main, October 25, 2024 – January 19, 2025. Lit.: Wolfgang P. Cilleßen, Gerhard Kölsch, et al. (eds.): *Raumwunder: Frankfurt Painters Discover the Church Interior 1750–1850*, Frankfurt am Main 2024, p. 194, No. 5.19 with ill. - Please ask for condition reports for individual lots, as the condition is usually not mentioned in the catalog. - Please ask for condition reports for individual lots, as the condition is usually not mentioned in the catalog.