Caricature of Lord Bristol, Bishop of Derry
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| Caricature of Lord Bristol, Bishop of Derry |
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| Johann Christian Reinhart , 1802 |
| Engraving based on a drawing |
The caricature of Lord Bristol, Bishop of Derry is a drawing by Johann Christian Reinhart from 1802. It shows Frederick August Hervey Earl of Bristol, Bishop of Derry , as a centaur-like creature with the body of a large pig.
description
At the left edge of the portrait format drawing a vine can be seen, which climbs up and fills the sheet up to the upper right corner; an amphora-like vessel leans against its foot . In the foreground on the right is the chimeric being that unites the bare torso of the Bishop of Derry with a long, hairy pig body. In his raised right hand the priest holding a glass of wine, is directed to also be looking at the palm of his left hand he poised before his lap the crozier , leaning on his left shoulder. The hairy pig's body stands on a suggested grassy landscape that fills about the lower fifth of the leaf. The background is not executed further. Several bottles of wine hang over the creature's back, and more bottles lie behind him in the grass.
history
Reinhart had already accepted orders from Lord Bristol in 1796 and 1800, but complained about the lack of or late payments for his paintings. He created the caricature after being grossly insulted by Lord Bristol: According to Johann Gottfried Seume , Bristol had invited Reinhart to dinner. A larger society had come together to which the German painter, according to Seume, was presented as “a universal genius, an arch cosmopolitan, a chief Jacobin” - the latter an expression for people who did not subordinate themselves to the rich and powerful without complaint, but rather a certain one Preserving freedom, as Reinhart had evidently done to the lord, who was quite dictatorial in matters of art. As the situation was felt to be embarrassing, one of the guests - they were in Italy - asked Reinhart about his homeland, but before the painter could answer, Lord Bristol explained that Reinhart had no fatherland but was at home everywhere. Reinhart, however, contradicted: “Sono Prussiano.” The host replied: “Prussiano? Prussiano? Ma mi pare che siete ruffiano. ”Reinhart initially did not reply to this allegation of being a rascal or a whore landlord, but left the company. Later, however, on February 6, 1802, he wrote a corresponding reply letter in which he accused Lord Bristol of his unspeakable behavior, and then created the caricature depicting the lower body of the clergyman in pig form. Attached was a verse from Ovid's Ars amatoria 1, 238: "Cura fugit multo diluiturque mero" ("Worry disappears and dissolves through so much wine").
The drawing caused a certain stir in Rome. Seume finally received it as a gift and later published it as a copperplate engraving during his walk to Syracuse , which Reinhart obviously resented because he saw himself as a caricaturist.
Lord Bristol and the arts
Lord Bristol died a year after the incident, leaving his son with a circular mansion in Ickworth , Essex, among other things . It was not only this building and his disrespectful treatment of Johann Christian Reinhart that testified to his eccentric personality: As an employment test, he would first invite applicants to dinner and then let them race in the wet sand; the winner of this competition then received a post as chaplain .
The circular building contains remains of the Lord's art collection, including Velázquez , Gainsborough and Angelika Kauffmann . Seume, however, thought nothing of the bishop's taste for art: “With the impertinence of wealth, this gentleman has the quirk of making connoisseurs and patrons of art and guiding taste, and so unfortunate that his judgments in Italy are here and there with understanding apply almost to condemnation alone. "
literature
- Andreas Andresen: The German painter-Radirer (Peintres-Engraveurs) of the nineteenth century according to their lives and works . tape 1 . Rudolph Weigel, Leipzig 1866, p. 201-202 . - digitized
- Inge Feuchtmayr: Johann Christian Reinhart 1761–1847. Monograph and catalog raisonné. Prestel, Munich 1975, ISBN 3-7913-0067-9 , pp. 30-31. 386.419.
- Dieter Richter: From court to Rome. Johann Christian Reinhart, a German painter in Italy. A biography. Transit, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-88747-245-0 , pp. 91-92.
Individual evidence
- ^ Johann Gottfried Seume, Walk to Syracuse in 1802 , Leipzig, Braunschweig 1803, title copper; 2nd edition 1805, pp. 224-225; Johann Gottfried Seume, Walk to Syracuse in 1802 , ed. by Jörg Drews, Insel Verlag 2010, ISBN 978-3-458-35183-2 , pp. 302–303 and notes pp. 427–428.
- ^ Andreas Austilat, In full consciousness against the norm , in: Der Tagesspiegel, October 27, 1997
- ^ Johann Gottfried Seume, Walk to Syracuse in 1802 , ed. by Jörg Drews, Insel Verlag 2010, ISBN 978-3-458-35183-2 , p. 301.