Head of a bulldog

The head of a bulldog in profile to left.

Etching, 1796, without date and signature.

The title page is lettered (in letterpress) with the series title: "TETES DE DIFFERERNTS ANIMAUX DESSINÉES D'APRES NATURE POUR DONNER UNE IDEE PLUS EXACTE DE LEURS CARACTERES PAR GUILLAUME TISCHBEIN DIRECTEUR DE L'ACADÉMIE ROYALE DE PEINTURE A NAPLES 1796".

Known as Wilhelm Tischbein or "Goethe" Tischbein, he was the most famous member of a large family of artists. He was trained in Kassel and Hamburg and in the 1770s moved between different cities in Germany and Holland, ending in Berlin, where he became a successful portrait painter; in 1779 he was offered a scholarship by the Landgraf of Hesse-Cassel to go to Italy; he stayed in Zurich with Lavater for a year, who recommended him to Goethe, who in turn secured him the patronage of Duke Ernst of Gotha.  In 1782 he served as Goethe's guide on the latter's Italian trip and in 1789 appointed director of the Naples Academy of Art. He planned numerous major projects, of which only the edition of Homer was completed: among others, a series of Greek vases from the Hamilton collection, intended as a follow-up to those of d'Hancarville.

A fine impression, printed on contemporary laid paper, trimmed to the platemark, good condition.

Bibliografia

Andresen 1878, Der Deutschen Maler-Radierer des 19 Jahrhunderts (II.53.122); cfr. H. Mildenberger, 'Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein (1751-1829) in G. Bartrum (ed.), exhib.cat., BM, London, 'German Romantic prints and drawings from an English private collection', 2011 pp. 120-9.