Wilhelm Camphausen
Wilhelm Camphausen, Prince Eugene of Savoy at Belgrade – 19th-century drawing
Wilhelm Camphausen, Prince Eugene of Savoy at Belgrade – 19th-century drawing

Wilhelm Camphausen Prince Eugene of Savoy at the Battle of Belgrade

£180.00
£180.00
Sold
View the full Collection: Düsseldorf School Collection

An original mid-19th-century graphite drawing, Wilhelm Camphausen, Prince Eugene of Savoy at the Battle of Belgrade.

A wonderfully animated scene by Wilhelm Camphausen (1818–1885), renowned in Germany as a patriotic historical and battle painter. This drawing shows Austrian military commanders relaxing and celebratory after the successful conquest of Belgrade under Prince Eugene of Savoy in 1717. Prince Eugene was one of the most successful military commanders in modern European history, and as a result of the victory at Belgrade Austria reached its maximum expansion in the Balkans. Camphausen has inscribed the drawing with a quotation from the poem 'Prinz Eugen, der edle Ritter' (Prince Eugene, the noble knight) by German poet Ferdinand Freiligrath. Camphausen's oil painting on the same subject, 'Prince Eugene of Savoy at the Battle of Belgrade', 1843 is considered one of his best works, now at the Cologne Museum.

Wilhelm Camphausen (1818–1885) was renowned in Germany as a patriotic historical and battle painter. He studied under Alfred Rethel and Friedrich Wilhelm Schadow, and rapidly gained popularity as a professional artist. He was appointed professor of painting at the Düsseldorf Academy in 1859. In 1864 he accompanied the Prussian forces during the Schleswig-Holstein campaign and painted several scenes of the fighting as well as scenes of the War of 1866, securing his renown in Germany as a representative of patriotic historical art. He also painted many portraits of German princes and celebrated soldiers and statesmen. In the 1870 Franco-Prussian War Camphausen served in the German army as an official war artist. His works are in many public collections, including Berlin National Gallery, Cologne Museum and Munich Pinakothek.

On paper laid down on backing paper.

+ Read the S&W Collection Research

Düsseldorf School Collection

This picture forms part of an intriguing collection of works that we have for sale connected with the Düsseldorf School of Painting. Collected together by a single owner, the pictures in the collection date from the mid-19th century and include works by Andreas Achenbach (1815–1910), Wilhelm Camphausen (1818–1885), Luise Henriette von Martens (1828–1897) and in the manner of Johann Georg Meyer von Bremen (1813–1886).

The Düsseldorf School is considered part of the German Romantic movement, and whilst not having one unified style, the works of its exponents were often finely detailed, extravagant and fanciful landscapes. The term is used to describe the artistic activity from 1826 to 1859 which centred around the Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts under the instruction of director Friedrich Wilhelm von Schadow. Andreas Achenbach was one of the earliest and most influential artists of the Academy; Wilhelm Camphausen was an historical and battle painter who was appointed professor at the Academy in 1859; Johann Georg Meyer von Bremen studied there in his twenty-first year; and Luise Henriette von Martens studied at the Academy with Karl Ferdinand Sohn. The reputation of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf continued into the 20th century, with illustrious alumni including Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter and Anselm Kiefer, and Andreas Gursky, and in the 1970s the school became renowned for photography under influential professors Bernd and Hilla Becher.

The collection also includes works by Captain Augustus Savile Lumley (fl.1855–1881) and members of the Ogle family, a prominent landed family in Northumberland. It is possible that the pictures were in the possession of the Ogle family; there are a number of Scottish subjects and a drawing by Sophia Ogle, who married Reverend Hugh Willoughby Jermyn, D.D, Lord Bishop of Brechin and Primus of Scotland.

COA
+ Artwork Details

Dimensions: Height: 18.1cm (7.13") Width: 30.7cm (12.09")

Presented: Unframed.

Medium: Graphite

Age: Mid-19th-century

Signed: Monogrammed lower left.

Inscribed: Inscribed in German, translation: 'Prince Eugene, noble knight, hey that resounds like thunder far and wide, even into the Turkish camp!'

Dated: --

Condition: Some minor age toning and foxing, as shown. There is a 2cm closed tear at the centre of the lower edge, and a further short closed tear below the monogram, lower left. There is a vertical crease running down the paper towards the left edge, as shown. Where the paper has been pasted down on the backing at the corners there is also some minor buckling. Please see photos for detail.

Stock number: JP-558