Lot Essay
The present pair are among the earliest works painted by the artist after his return from Italy. From 1809 to 1812 Knip finished his academic training by a stay in Italy. On his return, he built up his oeuvre by executing paintings based on the drawings he had made in Italy. The earliest dated work is from 1815 (see M. Boven et.al., J.A. Knip 1777-1847), exhibition catalogue, 1977, pp. 131/132, no. 72) that was followed by the present pair.
The view of the Sabine Mountains near Terni is based on a pencil and watercolour drawing executed in 1812 when Knip travelled through this area to Naples (see M. Boven et al, op.cit., p. 111, no. 53). He has subsituted a vertical for a horizontal format. The mountains on both sides of the valley have been moved closer together, thus creating more depth and dramatic illusion. One year later, in 1817, Knip used the same composition in a worked up watercolour (see M. Boven, op.cit., 1977, p. 137, no. 76).
In the view of the Lago Albano, Knip has combined several motives from that region: for instance the fountain in the lower right is based in reverse on that depicted in a watercolour exhibited at Douwes in 1969 (see Tentoonstelling van Schilderijen, Aquarellen en Tekeningen, 21 April-23 May 1969, no. 57, with ill.) The same fountain appears in a watercolour by Hendrik Voogd, dated 1806, in the Kunsthalle, Hamburg, which has been identified by Fransje Kuyvenhoven as near the villages Arricia and Genzano, between the lakes of Albano and Nemi (see De aan Hendrik Voogd (1768-1839) toegeschreven tekeningen in de Galleria dell'Accademia te Venetië, Oud Holland, CVI, 1992, p. 24). The village of Arricia attracted artists from all the foreign colonies in Rome
See colour illustrations
The view of the Sabine Mountains near Terni is based on a pencil and watercolour drawing executed in 1812 when Knip travelled through this area to Naples (see M. Boven et al, op.cit., p. 111, no. 53). He has subsituted a vertical for a horizontal format. The mountains on both sides of the valley have been moved closer together, thus creating more depth and dramatic illusion. One year later, in 1817, Knip used the same composition in a worked up watercolour (see M. Boven, op.cit., 1977, p. 137, no. 76).
In the view of the Lago Albano, Knip has combined several motives from that region: for instance the fountain in the lower right is based in reverse on that depicted in a watercolour exhibited at Douwes in 1969 (see Tentoonstelling van Schilderijen, Aquarellen en Tekeningen, 21 April-23 May 1969, no. 57, with ill.) The same fountain appears in a watercolour by Hendrik Voogd, dated 1806, in the Kunsthalle, Hamburg, which has been identified by Fransje Kuyvenhoven as near the villages Arricia and Genzano, between the lakes of Albano and Nemi (see De aan Hendrik Voogd (1768-1839) toegeschreven tekeningen in de Galleria dell'Accademia te Venetië, Oud Holland, CVI, 1992, p. 24). The village of Arricia attracted artists from all the foreign colonies in Rome
See colour illustrations