Lot 1383 Dα

The majority of Johann Jakob Wolfensberger's works are executed in watercolour. The splendour of the present sheet is evidence of his talent in this technique. It was probably created during his stay in Rome between 1825 and 1829.
Swiss-born Johann Jakob Wolfensberger was lucky enough to work in Heinrich Füssli's workshop for just under a year. In 1817, he set off for Italy with the landscape painter Wilhelm Huber - on foot via Milan to Genau, where they embarked for Naples. After more than six years in this city, he moved to Rome in 1825.
Wolfensberger's many high-ranking contacts are remarkable. His patrons and friends included Prince Karl Joseph Clary and Aldringen from Vienna, Countess Julie von Woyna, the Duke of Berwick and Prince Philipp von Hessen-Homburg. Later, in Rome, they included the French painter Horace Vernet, King Ludwig of Bavaria, the King of Denmark and Norway, Hortense de Beauharnais and Lord Compton.