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Lot Essay
Fohr's natural talent as a draughtsman developed early, and following a brief training with the university drawing master in his native Heidelberg he was 'discovered' by the landscapist G.W. Issel and taken to Darmstadt. Still only sixteen, Fohr was introduced to Philipp Dieffenbach, tutor to the princes at the Hessian court, who became his mentor. Dieffenbach also presented him to his future patron the Hereditary Grand-Duchess Wilhelmina. Fohr spent the summer of 1813 making studies from life in the Neckar region, which he then worked up into highly finished watercolours through the winter. The resulting thirty views, of which this view of Weinheim 14 miles north of Heidelberg is one, were bound into an album which he presented to Wilhelmina. A preparatory study for the present composition is in the Hessisches Landesmuseum in Darmstadt (Carl Philipp Fohr: Romatink-Landschaft und Historie, exhib. cat., Darmstadt, 1995, no. 91). That version shows the Weinheim tower from a lower perspective, further to the left, and lacks the travellers, wagon and dark edge of the city wall seen in the foreground of the final composition. This watercolor was engraved by Johan Christian Haldenwang in 1814 for the Grand Duchess's Court Calendar.
The Skizzenbuch der Neckargegend (Neckar Album), together with the Badischen Skizzenbuch presented in the following year, were the masterpieces of Fohr's career as a landscapist. A page from the latter sketchbook is in the Winterstein Collection (H. Sieveking, Fuseli to Menzel, Drawings and watercolors in the Age of Menzel, 1998, no. 46). Still only twenty, Fohr studied briefly at the Munich Academy before travelling to Italy. His reputation growing fast, his career was dramatically cut short when he drowned while bathing in the Tiber in June 1818.
In common with the other drawings from the Neckar Sketchbook, this drawing carries a printed label on the verso signed by Dr Weigmann, Director of the Graphische Sammlung, Munich, dated 1 February 1927, confirming that it is indeed from the album.
The Skizzenbuch der Neckargegend (Neckar Album), together with the Badischen Skizzenbuch presented in the following year, were the masterpieces of Fohr's career as a landscapist. A page from the latter sketchbook is in the Winterstein Collection (H. Sieveking, Fuseli to Menzel, Drawings and watercolors in the Age of Menzel, 1998, no. 46). Still only twenty, Fohr studied briefly at the Munich Academy before travelling to Italy. His reputation growing fast, his career was dramatically cut short when he drowned while bathing in the Tiber in June 1818.
In common with the other drawings from the Neckar Sketchbook, this drawing carries a printed label on the verso signed by Dr Weigmann, Director of the Graphische Sammlung, Munich, dated 1 February 1927, confirming that it is indeed from the album.