Ceiling fresco in the French pavilion of the Dresden Zwinger
The ceiling fresco in the French pavilion of the Dresden Zwinger was painted by the painter Heinrich Christoph Fehling in 1717. This was destroyed in the air raids on Dresden .
history
The ceiling paintings of the French Pavilion and the Mathematical Pavilion had a predecessor in Dresden. This was the ceiling painting on the upper floor of the palace in the Great Garden , which was created by Samuel Bottschildt with his nephew, student and later successor, Heinrich Christoph Fehling. The fresco showed the apotheosis of August's father, Elector Johann Georg III . The theme here was also the apotheosis: The "Apotheosis of August the Strong and the Electress Eberhardine": The homage to August the Strong and his wife Christiane Eberhardine, with the medallions of the Elector couple in the longitudinal axis of the central room. A "whole vortex of gods and geniuses moved over these representations and closed the ceiling in a festive apotheosis".
description
Main room
The homage to August the Strong is shown below. At the top left the allegory of the seasons. At the top right the allegory of music. In the center, Hercules crowns the royal coat of arms.
Homage to August the Strong
The focus is on the portrait medallion of Augustus the Strong. A genius points to August. Below the medallion is an antique relief painted in grisaille style; a copy of a relief that was added to the tomb of Arberinus in Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome around 1550 . The grisaille relief depicts Hercules strangling the Nemean lion ; this is intended to allude to the strength of August the Strong. To the right of the relief is Hermes with a Caduceus , which is intended to indicate the king's economic ambitions. Chronos (Time) is shown at the top right as the robber of beauty.
Medallion: Genius indicates August
Relief: Hercules strangles the Nemean lion
Hermes with Hermes staff
Figure group: Chronos abducts beauty
Homage to Christiane Eberhardine
Here, too, the portrait medallion of Electress Christiane Eberhardine is at the center . The medallion is crowned by geniuses. The relief below shows the abandoned Ariadne. To the right of the relief, a genius with flowers. At the top left are a group of genii with wreaths of flowers.
Medallion: Genii wreath Eberhardine
Relief: the abandoned Ariadne
Genius with flowers
Group of figures: Genii with wreaths of flowers
Allegory of the Seasons
The group of figures is determined by the floating Pomona (autumn) and the spring goddess who donates flowers (spring). In the middle is a large grisaille - relief . Inside is a pair of elephants, on which cupids ride. Furthermore, three naked women and a kneeling man are shown under a palm tree. The man should be Paris , the women should be goddesses who vie for the price of the greatest beauty. Next to the grisaille relief is a drunken bacchante on the left . A relief on the left shows a couple, satyr and nymph, bathing. The two are observed by Eros; further a pomona with fruit.
Next to the grisaille relief on the right is a pan that presses a grape into a cup that a Bacchus lying on the floor holds up (autumn). To the right of this is another relief. It shows a kneeling, pleading satyr between two nymphs lifting up grapes.
Pomona and the goddess of spring who donate flowers
Relief: three naked women and a kneeling man under a palm tree
Drunk Bachantin
Blowing satyr
Allegory of the Arts
Fehling painted an allegory on the arts, here an allegory on music in the form of women making music. They rest on a grisaille relief depicting a blowing satyr and dancing Bachantinnen. The relief was painted after an ancient relief in Madrid. Next to the relief lies a drunken Bachantin on the floor on the left.
overall view
Geniuses with violin and lute
Genius with viola da gamba
Putti with sheet music
Coronation of the Saxon-Polish coat of arms
Hercules with the Saxon-Polish coat of arms
Putti with the initials
At the center is Hercules, who crowns the Saxon-Polish coat of arms. He is dressed in a lion skin and holds his weapon, the club, in his left hand. In his right hand he holds a large Polish-Saxon coat of arms decorated with an electoral hat and crown. Two putti with the initials of the royal couple float above Hercules: FA for Friedrich August and EE for his wife.
Side rooms
The paintings in the adjoining rooms were shown on a copper engraving from 1719. In the meantime whitewashed, these were exposed again during the Zwinger restoration from 1924 to 1936 by Paul Rößler; Rößler largely replenished the losses incurred.
Apollo on the sun chariot
Triumph of the aurora
Individual evidence
- ^ Fritz Löffler, Der Zwinger in Dresden , 2nd edition, Leipzig 1976, p. 54.
- ^ Fritz Löffler, Das alte Dresden , Leipzig 1981, p. 167 Figure 193 (description)
- ^ Fritz Löffler, Der Zwinger in Dresden , 2nd edition, Leipzig 1976, p. 56.
- ↑ a b Cf. Eberhard Hempel, Der Zwinger zu Dresden. Principles and fates of his artistic design , Berlin 1961, p. 22f.
- ↑ See Fritz Löffler, Der Zwinger in Dresden , 2nd edition, Leipzig 1976, p. 55f.
- ↑ See Harald Marx (Ed.): Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann. The architect of the Dresden Zwinger , Leipzig 1990, p. 48f [Fig. 41 Heinrich Christoph Fehling. Ceiling painting in the French pavilion of the Zwinger, the so-called marble hall. Middle room. Medallion portrait of Electress Christiane Eberhardine, wife of Augustus the Strong, wreathed by geniuses. Including a relief of the abandoned Ariadne. In the center: Hercules crowns the Saxon-Polish coat of arms. 1717. Destroyed.]
- ^ Fritz Löffler, Das alte Dresden , Leipzig 1981, [French Pavilion, 1712 to 1716], pages 127, 129 to 131, 176/177. Figures No. 186, 190, 193.
- ↑ Harald Marx (ed.): The decorative monumental paintings in the Dresden Zwinger. In: ders. (Ed.): On the decorative painting of the 18th century in Saxony , art history dissertation. Halle / Saale 1971, p. 125.
- ↑ Harald Marx (ed.): The decorative monumental paintings in the Dresden Zwinger. In: ders. (Ed.): On the decorative painting of the 18th century in Saxony , art history dissertation. Halle / Saale 1971, p. 123f.
literature
- Harald Marx (Hrsg.): The decorative monumental paintings in the Dresden Zwinger. In: ders. (Ed.): On the decorative painting of the 18th century in Saxony , art history dissertation. Halle / Saale 1971, pp. 121–127.
