Apollo with the hours
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| Apollo with the hours |
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| Georg Friedrich Kersting , 1822 |
| Oil on canvas |
| 96 × 69 cm |
| City Museum Güstrow , Güstrow |
Apollo with the hours is a painting by the romantic painter Georg Friedrich Kersting , which he probably created in Meißen in 1822 .
The painting measures 96 × 69 cm and is painted with oil paints on canvas.
Emergence
The painting was created at the beginning of Kersting's time in Meissen. At that time he was living as a painter head of the Meissen porcelain factory with an annual salary of 400 Reichstalern and 200 taler royalties for the first time in economically secure circumstances. Kersting had already been accepted into the Masonic Lodge Phoebus Apoll in Güstrow as an “apprentice” in 1809, then just 24 years old . In the meantime he had been promoted to “master” and found it time to thank for the friendship shown to him by means of a painting that contained the specific symbolism of the lodge.
It was obvious to Phoebus Apollo to choose the connection of Apollo , the god of prophecy and poetry with Helios , the sun god, as the subject, since the lodge is consecrated to the god and named after him and also the seal of the lodge Phoebus Apollo on the sun chariot shows.
description
The picture is divided into two areas: a lower, gloomy third, corresponding to the earthly world, and an upper, light part, which is dominated by the central figure of the god, who holds the lyre in his left hand, the attribute of Apollo as the god of poetic song, and with the raised right hand gently guides the reins of the sun chariot , which corresponds to the god Helios as an attribute. The sun chariot is pulled by four fiery horses, so it is a quadriga , whereby the colors of the horses get darker from right to left.
Behind the god is a halo in the form of a triangle, which refers to the symbolic representation of the world builder (for example in the eye of providence ) with the Freemasons, ie Apollo embodies the world creator and the logos here. The triangle is actually only the tip of a large isosceles triangle formed by rays of light , the sides of which run from the head of the god to the left and right lower corners of the picture. Another ray falls vertically down into the earthly world of darkness and meets there a figure who directs its gaze up to the god. Friedrich Piper writes:
- Who is this man? I do not recognize him, neither by the blue color of his coat, nor by his striving to part the clouds, and his upward view, it is a Freemason, the Freemason in general, and so that we don't want to miss the interpretation, also goal the dedication of art ...
In fact, the figure in the hooded coat is a self-portrait of Kersting.
The figure of the god is framed by the dance of the 12 Horen , which together with the sun chariot form an S-shape. The ears symbolize the 12 hours of the day or the 12 months of the year, i.e. the passage of time in general. Together with the changing color of the horses from light (day) to dark (night), the theme of the passage of time is emphasized, whereby the passage of time in Freemasonry is not simply associated with transience, as in Christianity, but rather positively understood as the possibility of useful work.
That the magazine Phöbus - Ein Journal für die Kunst created by Ferdinand Hartmann for Heinrich von Kleists from 1808 onwards , is the title woodcut "Phöbus over Dresden", on which Phöbus as the driver of the sun chariot is framed by time symbols (here the signs of the zodiac ) and the earthly one at the bottom of the picture Welt (here the Dresdener Weichbild ) can be seen, on Kersting as a suggestion, Hannelore Gärtner considers it possible, but ultimately rejected it.
literature
- Hannelore Gärtner: Georg Friedrich Kersting. Seemann, Leipzig 1988, pp. 112-113
- Friedrich Piper: Masonic occasional speeches. Güstrow 1837, p. 26ff
Individual evidence
- ↑ “Matriculation No. 50 Brother Johannismeister Georg Kersting, who in this G. u. V. Lodge of November 14, 1809 received the ordination of the mason. ”Piper, p. 26ff