Domenico Quaglio the Younger
South Western View of Reims Cathedral
1827
Oil on canvas. 53.7 x 69.5 cm.
Signed, dated and inscribed lower left: DOMINICUS QUAGLIO MONACHII PINX. M.D.C.C.C.XXVII.
In this view of the cathedral of Notre-Dame in Reims, Domenico Quaglio depicts the decorated west facade of the 13th century Gothic masterpiece. Alongside numerous figures in the square, he also shows a communion parade on their way to the church.
Domenico Quaglio played a decisive role in the re-discovery of the Gothic in the art of the 19th century. His architectural views of important Gothic structures and cities throughout Europe are among the most reliable sources of architectural history of his time.
Quaglio's three depictions of Reims cathedral, painted between 1826 and 1833 (Trost 145a, 145b, 204), all differ somewhat in the figures used and in the buildings that surround the cathedral. Detailed sketches reveal that the artist first began to approach the motif in around 1825.
Catalogue Raisonné
Trost 145b
Provenance
Bavarian private collection. - Former collection Dr Spieker, Berlin. - Collection Dr Georg Schäfer (1896-1975), Schweinfurt. - Neumeister, Munich, auction 27 February 2005, lot 72. - Bavarian private collection. - Dorotheum, Vienna, auction, 21 April 2016, lot 1181 - Acquired there,
Literature
Jahresbericht des Kunstvereins München 1827 (with a list of the paintings exhibited there that year), no. 156 - Schorns Kunstblatt 1828, nos. 61 and 72 - F. v. Boetticher: Malerwerke des 19. Jahrhunderts, 2,1, [reprint of the Dresden 1891-1901 edition], Leipzig 1941, no. 59, p. 335.